Amaranthaceae
Anabasis

Anabasis articulata (Forssk.) Moq.

First published in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 13(2): 212 (1849)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is SE. Spain, N. Africa to Iraq and Arabian Peninsula. It is a subshrub or shrub and grows primarily in the desert or dry shrubland biome.

Descriptions

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Ghazanfar, S. A. & Edmondson, J. R (Eds). (2016) Flora of Iraq, Volume 5 Part 1: Elatinaceae to Sphenocleaceae.

Morphology General Habit
Shrub to 80 cm; stems to 5 mm in diameter, brittle, much-branched, angled or ridged when dry; annual shoots often yellowish or brown in lower part, younger parts greyish to green, often with small lateral buds at nodes
Morphology Leaves
Leaves obsolete, to 0.8 mm
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers solitary, arising from lanate tufts at axils of upper leaves; perianth whitish, hyaline, shorter than stamens; at fruiting stage with pink or mauve wings of unequal size
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruits 3–3.5 mm, with tiny papillae, reddish.
Ecology
Stony and sandy desert; alt. 0–700 m;
Phenology
Flowering & fruiting: Aug.–Oct.
Distribution
Iraq: Occasional and scattered in the Southern Desert zone. Spain, North Africa, Eastern Mediterranean.
Vernacular
?UDHŪ (Serekahia 16480, Ik’ara district); “said to be poisonous to livestock”.
[FIQ]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Flora of Iraq

    • Ghazanfar, S. A., Edmondson, J. R. (Eds). (2013-2019). Flora of Iraq, Volumes 5.1, 5.2 and 6.0. Kew Publishing
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images