淡枝沙拐枣 dan zhi sha guai zao

Pterococcus leucocladus Schrenk, Mélanges Biol. Bull. Phys.-Math. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg 3: 211. 1845; Calligonum anfractuosum Bunge; P. aphyllus Karelin & Kirilov (1842), not Pallas (1773).

Shrubs 50-120 cm tall. Old branches yellow-gray or gray, tortuous, often inclined-spreading; herbaceous branchlets of current year gray-green, slender; joints 1-3 cm. Leaves easily deciduous, linear, 2-5 mm; ocrea light yellow, not united to leaf. Pedicel 2-4 mm, jointed below middle. Flowers dense, 2-4 at leaf axils. Tepals green with broad white margin, broadly elliptic, 1.2-1.8 × 1-1.6 cm. Fruit narrowly ellipsoid, 1.2-1.8 cm. Achenes narrowly ellipsoid, not or slightly coiled; ribs 4, each with 2 wings; wings light yellow or yellow-brown, submembranous, finely veined. Fl. Apr-May, fr. May-Jun. 2n = 18*.

Semimobile or stable sand dunes, deserts; 500-1200 m. Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Russia (W Siberia), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; SW Asia].