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Common Saltwort (Salsola kali), Coastal Path

Diputación de Málaga
Barrilla pinchosa (Salsola kali). Senda Litoral 1

Common Saltwort (Salsola kali), Coastal Path

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Plant Life > Trees, Bushes and Herbaceous Plants

DESCRIPTION

Salsola Kali has erect stems that are less than a metre tall, it has many branches at the base. The branches are curvy so it looks like a globe. They are soft and green when they are young, but later on they get coloured nodes with purple vertical stretches between them and noticeable stiff parts. Its leaves are cylindrical, larger at the bottom and they alter with the leaves with a shape of a thorn at the end. Their flowers are very small and red, with tiny petals that are hard to be seen. One plant can have round one hundred of flowers.

DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT

This species normally lives on small sandy hills on the beaches and dunes, on dry salty soil. They can also grow on the top of the organic residues (mostly plants, like reeds or seaweed), close to rocky boarders with the sea, as they need large amounts of nitrogen, as well as natural sea spray (aerosol).

HOW THEY LIVE

Considering the rough conditions in which these plants live, they can adapt to long periods of draught, strong winds and high levels of salinity. They blossom in July and produce millions of particles of pollen. The same as Cakilemarítima, they live on the top of beached sea residues.

WHERE THEY CAN BE SEEN IN MÁLAGA

On this coast, it can be found everywhere where the beach is wide enough or there is sand with residues of seaweed and reed. Therefore, it can be above all seen close to the river mouths or zones with the residues of organic kind.

INTERESTING FACTS

There is another species called Cakilemarítima, which grows in the same area. Both of them form part of the same colony which is considered to be a Habitat of European Interest by the European Union called 'Annual Vegetation on the Stored Marine Residues'.
These plants are allergens, so many people can suffer from allergies to its pollen.

SIMILARSPECIES

Even though there are other species in the genus Salsola, the above species cannot be confused with any other as they cannot live in the same kind of environment and in the Province of Málaga.

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