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Halothamnus is a genus in the subfamily Salsoloideae of the family Amaranthaceae (s.l., now including Chenopodiaceae). The scientific name means "saltbush", from the Greek ἅλς (hals) 'salt' and θαμνος (thamnos) 'bush'. This refers either to salty habitats or to the accumulation of salt in the plants. The genus is distributed from Southwest and Central Asia to the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa.
The distribution of the genus extends from the Caucasus Mountains and Kazakhstan through Central Asia, Southwest Asia southward to Somalia. The westernmost localities are at the Sinai Peninsula, the easternmost in Dzungaria in China. Most species occur in Iran, Afghanistan, and southern Central Asia. All species grow in dry habitats of deserts and semideserts from 0–2800 m above sea-level. They live on rocky, clayish, or sandy soils; many species tolerate saline conditions.
Some species of Halothamnus are important grazing plants for camels, sheep and goats, and are therefore used for the recultivation of pasture, for example Halothamnus subaphyllus, Halothamnus auriculus and Halothamnus glaucus. Halothamnus subaphyllus is planted for the stabilisation of mobile sands and for the production of the medically used alkaloid Salsolin. Halothamnus somalensis is used as medicinal plant against parasitic worms. In former times Halothamnus subaphyllus and Halothamnus glaucus were used to extract potash for making soap.
Halothamnus auriculus · Halothamnus beckettii · Halothamnus bottae · Halothamnus glaucus · Halothamnus hierochunticus · Halothamnus iliensis · Halothamnus iranicus · Halothamnus lancifolius · Halothamnus somalensis · Halothamnus subaphyllus
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Halothamnus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
