Calligonum aphyllum Gürke

Shrubs 0.8-2 m tall. Old branches flexuous, grayish brown or purple-brown; herbaceous branchlets of current year green, slender; joints 1-3 cm. Leaves easily deciduous, linear, 2-4 mm; ocrea not united to leaf. Pedicel red, 4-5 mm, jointed below middle. Flowers 1-3, at leaf axils. Tepals white, green, or red, ovate, with broad white margin abaxially, unequal, ca. 3 mm. Fruit yellow or red when young, yellow-brown or dark purple when mature, subglobose or broadly ovoid, 1.5-2 × 1.2-2 cm. Achenes ellipsoid, with 4 obtuse ribs; not or slightly coiled; each rib with 2 wings; wings subglobose, often smooth. Fl. and fr. Jun. 2n = 36*.

It is a cool temperate plant. It is best in sandy soils in dry arid areas. It needs full sunlight. It grows on sand dunes. In western China it grows between 500-600 m above sea level.

The young shoots are cooked and eaten. The young fruit are eaten. An edible gum has been extracted from the leaves and the pounded roots. The roots are pounded and yield an edible gum-like substance.

Plants can be grown from seeds.