Haloxylon Bunge, Rel. Lehm. ( Mem . Sav. Etrang. Petersb.) 7: 468 (1851)

Sukhorukov, Alexander P., Liu, Pei-Liang & Kushunina, Maria, 2019, Taxonomic revision of Chenopodiaceae in Himalaya and Tibet, PhytoKeys 116, pp. 1-141 : 120

19. Haloxylon Bunge, Rel. Lehm. ( Mem. Sav. Etrang. Petersb.) 7: 468 (1851)

Haloxylon Bunge, Rel. Lehm. ( Mém. Sav. Etrang. Petersb.) 7: 468 (1851). Lectotype ( Pfeiffer 1874): H. ammodendron (C.A.Mey.) Bunge.

Description.

Sub-shrublets, shrubs or trees; branches cylindrical, jointed. Leaves opposite, minute or rudimentary, connate. Flowers small, hermaphrodite, axillary and usually solitary, two-bracteolate. Perianth segments 5, free or connate in the lower part with spreading, scarious wings near the tip. Stamens usually 5. Anthers muticous. Staminodes 5, membranous, thin and glabrous, united with the bases of filaments into a lobed, cup-like disc. Ovary with short style and 2-3(5) stigmas. Fruit included in open perianth, globular-depressed, slightly fleshy in the upper part. Seeds horizontal with spirally coiled embryo. Perisperm absent.

Five to seven species mostly distributed in the Irano-Turanian region. The position of Haloxylon thomsonii within this genus is still pending due to its unusual life history (sub-shrublet) and one-layered stem epidermis (all other species possess two-layered epidermis).