泡果沙拐枣 pao guo sha guai zao

Calligonum horridum E. Borszcow.

Shrubs 40-100 cm tall, much branched, spreading. Old branches yellowish gray or light brown; herbaceous branchlets of current year gray-green, jointed; joints 1-3 cm. Leaves linear, 3-6 mm; ocrea light yellow, not united with leaf. Pedicel 3-5 mm, jointed below middle. Flowers often 2-4 at leaf axils, slightly dense. Tepals green with a broad white margin abaxially, ovate, unequal, outer ca. 3 mm. Fruit light red or red when young, light yellow, yellow-brown, or red-brown when mature, membranous-saccate, globose, or broadly ellipsoid, 0.9-2 cm × 7-10 mm. Achenes ellipsoid, not coiled; ribs broad; bristles in 3 rows per rib, dense, soft, membranous. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. May-Jul. 2n = 18*.

Sandy deserts, steppes; 300-800 m. Nei Mongol, Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia (SE European part, W Siberia), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan; SW Asia].