Tamarix chinensis Lour.

 

Tamaricaceae (Tamarisk Family)

 

China

 

Chinese Tamarisk

 

Salt Cedar

 

Tamarix    

                                  May Photo

 

Plant Characteristics:  Shrub or small tree to 10 m., with slender spreading or drooping branches; lvs. 1.5-3 mm. lanceolate, keeled, bluish-green; fls. pink, in racemes 1.5-7 cm. long forming lose usually nodding panicles, in summer; petals persistent; sepals 0.5-1.5 mm., ovate, acute; petals 1.5-2 mm., oblong to elliptic; stamens deeply inserted between the lobes of the disk; bracts subulate, longer than pedicels; disk deeply 10 lobed.

 

Habitat:  Escape from cultivation.  Frequent on deserts; non saline areas.  Bloom period not listed in Bailey or Munz, it seems to be from May to July locally.. 

 

Name:  Tamarix, the ancient Latin name.  (Bailey 678).  Tamaris, river in Spain. (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 844). Chinensis, indicates that the first species identified were from China.  (Dale 13).

 

General:  Uncommon in the study area with most of the plants located in the Big Canyon area.   Photographed in big Canyon.  In 2000 a plant was found at 23rd St. and on the bluff at the end of Back Bay Dr just before it ends at Eastbluff Dr. (my comments).     In the arid west, where water is life, the tamarisk tree has made few friends.  Tamarisk is a virulent pest in desert riparian areas because it aggressively displaces native trees and shrubs...and it is a poor source of food and shelter for desert wildlife.  Sometimes called salt cedar, tamarisk is not native to the North American continent.  The nursery trade brought several deciduous species of the genus Tamarix to this country from Eurasia in the 1850's for use as an ornamental, as a windbreak, and as a means of erosion control.  This slight, feathery tree or large shrub with its stunning sprays of pink to almost white flowers was extolled for its hardiness in certain climates.  Those claims weren't exaggerated.  Virtually unknown in the wild at the turn of the century, by 1920 tamarisk had spread, on its own, to some 10,000 acres of streamside and floodplain.  Today it covers well over a million acres in fifteen states and is still spreading.  In California it lays claim to roughly 16,000 acres.  The tamarisk has a bag of survival tricks unequaled by any of the West's native vegetation.  One single plant can produce hundreds of thousands of pollen-sized seeds that are easily scattered by wind and water.  They also cling to fur and feathers.  Too small to be eaten by birds and rodents, the seeds germinate in a wide variety of conditions and sprout like lawn grass.  Tamarisk does not succumb to insect pests in this country; it can't be killed by foliar applications of herbicide; and its scale-like leaves are unpalatable to grazing animals.  Moreover, removing the trees by cutting can result in regrowth of more than four feet in month's time.  The tamarisk is a phreatophyte, a plant that survives in dry climates by extending its roots all the way down to the water table.  With this virtually unlimited supply of moisture, the phreatophytes have never developed the water-conserving adaptations of other desert vegetation.  But the exotic tamarisk uses far more water than do the native phreatophytes-more than any other native phreatophyte.  One large tree can absorb 200 gallons of water a day.  Given a conservative estimate of a million acres of tamarisk, this plant species consumes nearly twice as much water as do the major cities of southern California.  Through glands in its leaves, tamarisk secretes salt, which falls to the ground in the form of crystals and forms an environment that few native plants can tolerate.  Because of invading salt cedar, many of the desert pools at Death Valley National Monument had disappeared.  After experimenting with numerous eradication techniques, the U.S. Park Service found the best method:  crews using hand or chain saws cut the plants down to ground level and then applied systemic herbicide directly to the stumps to inhibit resprouting.  Although labor intensive, this is the only technique currently known to be suitable for use in ecologically sensitive areas.  The pools in Death Valley are back.    Conservationists face a double challenge, First, how do they eradicate the trees?  Second, how do they ensure the return of native flora?  Working with the Bureau of Reclamation, an area on the lower Colorado River has been restored.  Here an impenetrable thicket of tamarisk was bulldozed, and the roots were cut below the soil surface using a massive root ripper pulled behind a bulldozer.  The site was then carefully planted with appropriate native vegetation.  This project was most successful, but the price tag was high: more than $2,000 per acre, not including the cost of clearing.  (Originally printed in the Nature Conservancy News, October-November, 1986).  The above was copied from an article by Johnson, Stephen. "Can Tamarisk be Controlled?" Fremontia, A Journal of the Native Plant Society. Spring 1987, P. 19,20.       Since the mid-1980’s federal researchers have explored using Chinese leaf beetles that feed on tamarisk to get the invasion under control.  To insure that they won’t devour other plants, scientists are cautiously testing the beetles.  The beetles, about the size of a fingernail, have been shown to attack tamarisk without spreading to other plants. Hettena, Seth The Associated Press “West’s Water Hazard” Orange County Register 15 June 2003. morning edition, News 16.        Researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno have been experimenting with the Chinese leave-eating beetle Diorhabda elongata to determine how effective it is in killing Salt Cedar.  Tamarisk, as it is also called, has been blamed for more than $200 million in environmental damage across the West.  No author, no title  USA TODAY  3 August, 2004  6A.     About 75 species of deciduous and sometimes evergreen shrubs or trees from the Medit. region to E. Indies and Japan.  (Bailey 678).       

 

Text Ref:  Bailey 679; Hickman, Ed. 1080; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 844, Roberts 40.

Photo Ref:  April 2 84 # 17,18; May 2 84 # 2,3,4.

Identity: by F. Roberts.

First Found:  April 1984.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 281

Have plant specimen.

Last edit 8/6/04.

 

                                     May Photo