Siberian Saltbush

Herbs annual, 20-50 cm tall. Stem usually branched from base; branches decumbent or obliquely spreading, obtusely 4-angled, not striate, furfuraceous. Petiole 3-6 mm; leaf blade ovate-triangular to rhombic-ovate, 3-5 × 1.5-3 cm, abaxially densely gray-white furfuraceous, adaxially gray-green and not or only slightly furfuraceous, base rounded or broadly cuneate, margin sparsely serrate, with a pair of larger teeth near base or only 1 pair of lobes and the remainder entire, apex subobtuse. Inflorescences axillary glomerules. Male flowers: perianth 5-parted; segments ovate to broadly so; stamens 5; filaments flattened, basally united; anthers broadly ovate to shortly oblong, ca. 0.4 mm. Fruiting bracts connate proximally, inflated, subobovoid, 5-6 × ca. 4 mm, woody, with numerous irregular, tuberculate processes on both sides, base cuneate, distal margins thin, serrate. Utricle ovoid or subglobose, compressed; pericarp white, membranous, adnate to seed. Seed vertical, red-brown or yellow-brown, 2-2.5 mm in diam. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Aug-Sep.

Saline and alkaline deserts, stabilized dunes, lake shores, canyon sides. Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia (Siberia); occasionally introduced in Europe].

Obione muricata Gaertner; O. sibirica (Linnaeus) Fischer.