Halocnemum
Halocnemum
a genus of plants of the family Chenopodiaceae (goosefoot) containing a single species—H. strobilaceum. The plants are procumbent, strongly branched shrubs measuring up to 50 cm tall. The young shoots, which are fleshy and segmented, have barely developed scalelike leaves. The bisexual flowers are in groups of two or three in the axils of the empty glumes. The perianth is three-lobed and whitish. The one-seeded fruit is indehiscent and enclosed in the perianth.
Halocnemum is distributed in the Mediterranean region, the southern European USSR, the Caucasus, southwestern Siberia, Southwest Asia, Middle Asia, and the northwestern part of Central Asia. The plant is a. halophyte that often forms extensive thickets on solonchaks, salinated shores of seas and lakes, and solonchak lowlands. In the autumn and winter it serves as forage for camels and, to a lesser extent, for sheep and goats. The plant is sometimes used as fuel.