Salicornia foliata Pallas, Reise Russ. Reich. 1: 482. 1771; Halocnemum foliatum (Pallas) Sprengel; Kalidium foliatum var. longifolium Fenzl.

Plants 20-50 cm tall. Stems erect or prostrate, much branched; branches gray-brown, annual ones yellow-green, nearly herbaceous. Leaves gray-green, terete, spreading or slightly adaxially curved, 4-10 × 2-3 mm, base decurrent, semiamplexicaul, apex obtuse. Spikes sessile, 8-15 × 3-4 mm. Flowers 3 per scale-like bract. Perianth pentagonal on top surface, margin narrowly winged. Stamens 2. Seed vertical, globose, ca. 1 mm in diam., with dense, papillate processes. Fl. and fr. Jul-Aug.

Alkaline soils, salt-lake shores. N Gansu, N Hebei, Heilongjiang, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang [Mongolia, Russia (S Siberia); C and SW Asia, SE Europe].