小盐芥 xiao yan jie

Sisymbrium halophilum C. A. Meyer in Ledebour, Fl. Altaic. 3: 143. 1831; Hesperis halophila (C. A. Meyer) Kuntze; Stenophragma halophilum (C. A. Meyer) B. Fedtschenko.

Herbs (2-)6-22(-30) cm tall. Stems erect or ascending, simple or few branched at base. Basal leaves rosulate; petiole 1-6 mm; blade obovate, spatulate, or oblong, 3-10(-20) × 1-3(-5) mm, margin dentate, pinnatifid, or entire, apex obtuse. Middle cauline leaves oblong or ovate, sessile, 3-12(-20) × 1-3(-5) mm, base auriculate or rarely deeply sagittate-amplexicaul, margin dentate or entire, apex acute or obtuse. Infructescence rachis straight. Fruiting pedicels slender, divaricate to divaricate-ascending, 2-7(-10) mm. Sepals oblong, 1-1.5 × 0.5-0.6 mm. Petals white, obovate, 2-3 × 1-1.2 mm. Filaments 1-1.5 mm; anthers oblong, 0.2-0.4 mm, apiculate. Ovules 15-26 per ovary. Fruit (0.5-)0.7-1.5(-2) cm × 0.4-0.5 mm, slightly torulose, sessile; valves obscurely veined; style 0.1-0.5 mm. Seeds brown, oblong, uniseriate, (0.5-)0.6-0.8 × 0.3-0.4 mm. Fl. and fr. May-Aug.

Saline areas. Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Russia (Siberia)].

Records in FRPS of Thellungiella halophila from Hebei, Henan, Jiangxi, Nei Mongol, and Shandong were based on misidentified plants of T. salsuginea. The differences in stem branching, margin of basal leaves, and fruit length given in FRPS and other floras are unreliable, and only the characters in the key above consistently separate the two species.