1.
Bassia hyssopifolia
(Pallas) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 547. 1891.
Salsola hyssopifolia
Pallas, Reise Russ. Reich 1: 491, plate 2, fig. 1. 1771;
Echinopsilon hyssopifolium
(Pallas) Moquin-Tandon
Plants
5-100 cm.
Stems
divari-cately branched or simple.
Leaves
sessile (or sometimes narrowed into pseudopetiole); blade lanceolate-elliptic, lanceolate, or linear, flat, base cuneate.
Inflorescences
with ± straight axes.
Perianth segments
with thin, hooked spine adaxially at maturity.
2
n
= 18.
Flowering late summer-fall. Saline habitats, coastal dunes, salt marshes, disturbed habitats, roadsides, fields; 0-1200 m; introduced; Alta., B.C.; Ariz., Calif., Colo., Idaho, Mass., Mont., Nev., N.Mex., N.Y., Oreg., S.Dak., Tex., Utah, Wash., Wyo.; Eurasia (e Europe, arid regions of Asia).
Bassia hyssopifolia
has been reported from southern Saskatchewan, but H. J. Scoggan (1978-1979, part 3) noted that this record possibly referred to
Kochia
scoparia
(Linnaeus) Schrader. Putative hybrids between
B.
hyssopifolia
and
K. scoparia
are reported from Utah (S. L. Welsh 1984). Such hybridization is extremely interesting because it has not been reported within the native ranges of those species in Eurasia. I have seen only one specimen that might represent such a hybrid. Its general habit resembles
Bassia
(including pubescent leaves), but its perianth segments are very variable, with winglike, conic, or almost spinescent appendages.
