WorldFloraDB - Tamarix chinensis

Characteristics

Trees or shrubs, 3-6(-8) m tall. Branchlets dense, often pendulous, red-purple, slender. Leaves green, those of vegetative branches slightly spreading, oblong-lanceolate or narrowly ovate, 1.5-1.8 mm, abaxially carinate at base, often thinly membranous, apex acute; those of vegetative branches in upper part subulate or ovate-lanceolate, 1-3 mm, abaxially carinate, base attenuate, apex acuminate, incurved. Flowers blooming 2 or 3 times each year. When blooming in spring, racemes lateral in pendulous, ligneous, growing branchlets of previous year, 3-6 cm × 5-7 mm, few flowered, lax, and pendulous; peduncles short or nearly absent, with or without bracts; bracts linear-oblong or oblong, equaling or slightly exceeding pedicels, apex acuminate; pedicels shorter than calyx, slender; flowers 5-merous; sepals 5, narrowly ovate, 0.8-1.3 mm, slightly shorter than petals, outer 2 carinate abaxially, margin slightly entire, apex mucronate; petals 5, pink, usually ovate-elliptic or elliptic-obovate, rarely obovate, ca. 2 mm, slightly exceeding calyx, persistent in fruit; disk purple-red, fleshy, 5-fid; lobes obtuse or retuse at apex; stamens 5, exceeding petals; filaments inserted between disk lobes; ovary conic; styles 3, clavate, ca. 1/2 as long as ovary. Capsule conic. When blooming in summer and autumn, racemes 3-5 cm, smaller than those in spring, forming terminal large panicles on branches of current year; flowers 5-merous, slightly smaller than those in spring, dense; bracts green, linear to linear-conic or narrowly triangular, smaller and narrower than those of spring flowers, longer than pedicels, abaxially raised at base, base attenuate, margin entire, apex acuminate; calyx triangular-ovate; petals pink, straight or slightly oblique outward, much exceeding calyx; disk 5-lobed, or subdivided into 10 lobules; stamens 5, equaling or ca. 2 × as long as petals; anthers obtuse; filaments inserted between disk lobes; styles clavate, 2/5-3/4 as long as ovary. Fl. Apr-Sep. 2n = 24*.

More

Large shrub or tree to c. 10 m high, glabrous; branches tending to droop. Lvs 0.75-2.5-(4) mm long, lanceolate with broad sheathing base, almost subulate on strong vegetative shoots, entire, not markedly imbricate. Infl. a large, broad, terminal panicle composed of numerous spike-like racemes 2-5 cm long, appearing well after the lvs and on the current season's growth. Bracts 1-1.5-(2) mm long, narrow-lanceolate and acuminate to linear-subulate, pinkish, mostly > pedicels; fls 5-merous. Sepals 0.5-0.8-(1.2) mm long, ovate, green with hyaline, almost entire margin. Petals 1.3-2.2 mm long, broad-elliptic, pink; apex rounded or emarginate. Stamens 5, > petals; anthers pink. Disc of 5 rounded dark red lobes. Style red, stout, < or = petals; stigma stout. Capsule c. 8 mm long, narrowly pyramidal. Seed c. 0.5 mm long, cylindric; hairs united to form column in lower part, the free upper parts reflexed.

Tree 1.5-5.0 m high; bark brown to black, glabrous. Leaves sessile, base narrow, 1.5-3.0 mm long. Inflorescence 20-60 mm long racemes, initially pyramidal, later loose. Bracts ± equaling pedicels in length, upper ones narrowly triangular, acuminate, herbaceous. Flowers bisexual, pentamerous. Sepals trullate-ovate, subentire. Petals persistent, ovate-elliptic, pink. Disc fleshy, dark-coloured, margins 5-lobed. Stamens 5, antisepalous, inserted beneath disc, alternating with lobes (disc hololophic). Flowering time Mar.-Nov.

Shrubs or trees, to 8 m. Leaves: blade lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 1.5–3 mm. Inflorescences 2–6 cm × 5–7 mm; bract reaching or exceeding pedicel, not exceeding calyx tip. Flowers 5-merous; sepals 0.5–1.5 mm, margins entire; petals elliptic to ovate, 1.5–2 mm; antisepalous stamens 5, filaments alternate with nectar disc lobes, some or all originating from below disc. 2n = 24.

Evergreen tree, up to 5 m high. Bark black or dark brown; branches feathery. Leaves minute, scale-like. Flowers: in racemes at ends of long, thin twigs; sepals entire; petals ovate, pale to purplish pink; Sep.-Dec. Fruit papery, 3-4 mm long.

Has 5-merous fls, with the filaments arising from (or just outside) the sinuses of the 5-lobed disk (the disk lobes often emarginate). (T. ramosissima; T. pentandra, an illegitimate name)

Life form

perennial

Growth form

Growth support

free-standing

Foliage retention

deciduous

Sexuality

hermaphrodite

Pollination

entomogamy

Spread

-

Mature width (meter)

2.5 - 4.0

Mature height (meter)

4.5 - 6.75

Root system

-

Rooting depth (meter)

1.8

Root diameter (meter)

-

Flower color

Blooming months

Jan	Feb	Mar
Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep
Oct	Nov	Dec

Fruit color

-

Fruiting months

Jan	Feb	Mar
Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep
Oct	Nov	Dec

Nitrogen fixer

-

Photosynthetic pathway

c3

Environment

Roadsides and stream edges, mostly as the result of cultivation. Plains along rivers, sea shores, moist salty places, sandy places.

Light
Soil humidity
Soil texture
Soil acidity
Soil nutriment	-
Hardiness (USDA)

Usage

Uses	animal food construction environmental use medicinal ornamental
Edible	-
Therapeutic use	Alexiteric (unspecified), Antiseptic (unspecified), Aperient (unspecified), Arthritis (unspecified), Astringent (unspecified), Carminative (unspecified), Detergent (unspecified), Diuretic (unspecified), Fever (unspecified), Malaria (unspecified), Measles (unspecified), Rheumatism (unspecified), Skin (unspecified), Smallpox (unspecified), Sudorific (unspecified), Swelling (unspecified), Tonic (unspecified), Vulnerary (unspecified), Analgesic (unspecified), Chickenpox (unspecified), Itch (unspecified), Preventitive(Measless) (unspecified), Expectorant (unspecified), Flu (unspecified), Intoxication (unspecified)
Human toxicity	-
Animal toxicity	-

Cultivation

Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings.

Mode	cuttings seedlings
Germination duration (days)	30 - 50
Germination temperacture (C°)	18 - 21
Germination luminosity	light
Germination treatment	-
Minimum temperature (C°)	-
Optimum temperature (C°)	20 - 38
Size	-
Vigor	-
Productivity	-