Salsola aphylla
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Image 1
Habit
27 May 2006
Image 2
Leaves
27 May 2006
Image 3
Leaves
02 Mar 2009
Image 4
Habit
25 Jun 2012
Image 5
Branch and leaves
25 Jun 2012
| Family: | Chenopodiaceae |
| Full name: | Salsola aphylla L.f. |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Rivierganna, Blomkoolganna, Brakganna, Loog-asganna, Beesganna, Gannabos, Ganna, Asganna |
| English common name(s): | Lye ganna bush, Coastal ganna, Lye bush |
| Synonym(s): | Caroxylon brevifolium St.-Lag. Caroxylon salsola Thunb. Salsola aphylla L.f. var. canescens Fenzl ex Drège Salsola caffra Sparrm. Salsola caroxylon Moq. |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | A much-branched shrub, reaching a height of 6 ft.; branches slender, terete, not jointed, pallid, pubescent; leaves alternate, ovate, minute, amplexicaul, densely pubescent; flowers solitary; bracteoles suborbicular, keeled, pubescent; perianth-segments ovate-lanceolate, obtuse, slightly pubescent; filaments dilated below; anthers oblong, with a minute terminal appendage; disk fleshy, obtusely 5-lobed; style elongate; stigmas subulate; wings of the fruiting perianth inserted below the middle of the segments, obovate, membranous, yellowish or dull purple, the two inner narrower than the others. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Capensis) The saltbush, lye ganna or gannabos (Afrikaans), common names of Salsola aphylla, is a large, branched shrub of about 1,8 m; or sometimes just a small shrublet. It does occasionally even become a small tree of 4 m in height. Still, S. aphylla has a SA Tree List Number:103.3. Saltbush grows in dry watercourses of the hot and arid inland parts of South Africa and southern Namibia; the places where underground water is likely to be retained longest. It also grows on floodplains in loamy and saline soils where it is dry for long periods. It is common in the Karoo, Little Karoo and the Eastern Cape. Long ago, when settler farmers had to make their own soap or go without, boiled leaves or the ashes of burned stems of this plant were used as lye for home-made soap, explaining one of the common names of the plant (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010). (from https://www.operationwildflower.org.za/index.php/albums/shrubs/salsola-aphylla-il-7-2126) |
| Link(s) |
African Plant Database
JSTOR Plant Science Kew Herbarium Catalogue BGBM Berlin-Dahlem - Virtual Herbarium Züricher Herbarien iNaturalist (Namibia / Alex Dreyer) iNaturalist (Namibia) iNaturalist (southern Africa) Flora of Zimbabwe Fleurs de notre Terre - Galerie Namibie Tree Atlas of Namibia |
| Content last updated: | 18 Apr 2024 |
