Tamarix karelinii Bunge

Trees or large shrubs, 2-4(-7) m tall. Branches smooth, occasionally stiffly hairy, inconspicuously papillose. Leaves ovate, 1-1.5 × 0.5-1 mm, base obtuse, slightly decurrent, nearly semiamplexicaul, apex acute, incurved. Racemes 4-7(-15) cm × 2-4 mm, terminal on branches of current year, clustered into spreading, large panicles; bracts lanceolate, subulate, 1.7-2 mm, subequaling or exceeding calyx, base enlarged, apex acute. Pedicels 0.5-0.7 mm. Calyx ca. 1 mm; sepals 5, suborbicular, to 0.8 mm, margin membranous, semipellucid, subentire, apex obtuse. Petals deep red or purple-red, obovate-elliptic, ca. 1.5 mm, more than 2 × as long as calyx, abaxially raised, apex obtuse, incurved, partly deciduous after anthesis. Disk small, thinly membranous, 5-lobed. Stamens 5, exserted from corolla or often equaling corolla, with nectary at base of filaments; anthers mucronate. Styles 3, oblong-clavate. Capsule 5-6 mm, 5-6 × exceeding calyx. Fl. Jun-Sep. 2n = 24*.

Salty soils, margins of sand dunes, riversides, lakesides. Gansu, Nei Mongol, Qinghai, Xinjiang [Afghanistan, Mongolia, Russia; SW Asia (Iran)].

Tamarix hispida Willdenow var. karelinii (Bunge) B. R. Baum.