Calligonum affine Popova; C. crispum Bunge; C. songaricum Endlicher; Pterococcus songaricus C. A. Meyer var. rubicundus C. A. Meyer.

Shrubs 0.8-1.5 m tall. Old branches dark red, reddish brown, or gray-brown; herbaceous branchlets of current year gray-green, jointed; joints 1-4 cm. Leaves linear, 2-5 mm; ocrea united to leaves. Pedicel 4-6 mm, glabrous. Flowers 2 or 3 in leaf axil. Tepals reflexed in fruit, pink or red, linear-lanceolate, 2.5-4 mm. Fruit light green, light yellow, or bright red when young, yellow-brown or dark red when mature, ovoid, broadly ovoid, or subglobose, 1.4-2 × 1.4-1.8 cm. Achenes coiled, with ribs; wings on ribs leathery, with veins. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jun-Jul. 2n = 36*.

Semimobile or stable sand dunes, sandy lands; 400-1000 m. Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia (W Siberia)].