Tamarix

:"Tamarisk redirects here. For other uses of tamarisk, see Tamarisk (disambiguation)"

Taxobox
name = "Tamarix"

---

image_width = 240px
image_caption = "Tamarix aphylla" in natural habitat in Israel
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo = Caryophyllales
familia = Tamaricaceae
genus = "Tamarix"
genus_authority = L.
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = See text

The genus "Tamarix" (tamarisk, salt cedar) comprises about 50-60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa.

They are evergreen or deciduous shrubs or trees growing to 1-18 m in height and forming dense thickets, The largest, "Tamarix aphylla", is an evergreen tree that can grow to 18 m tall. They usually grow on saline soils, tolerating up to 15,000 ppm soluble salt and can also tolerate alkali conditions. Tamarisks are characterized by slender branches and grey-green foliage. The bark of young branches is smooth and reddish-brown. As the plants age, the bark becomes brownish-purple, ridged and furrowed. The leaves are scale-like, 1-2 mm long, and overlap each other along the stem. They are often encrusted with salt secretions. The pink to white flowers appear in dense masses on 5-10 cm long spikes at branch tips from March to September, though some species (e.g. "T. aphylla") tend to flower during the winter.

"Tamarix" can spread both vegetatively, by adventitious roots or submerged stems, and sexually, by seeds. Each flower can produce thousands of tiny (1 mm diameter) seeds that are contained in a small capsule usually adorned with a tuft of hair that aids in wind dispersal. Seeds can also be dispersed by water. Seedlings require extended periods of soil saturation for establishment. "Tamarix" species are fire-adapted, and have long tap roots that allow them to intercept deep water tables and exploit natural water resources. They are able to limit competition from other plants by taking up salt from deep ground water, accumulating it in their foliage, and from there depositing it in the surface soil where it builds up concentrations temporarily detrimental to some plants. The salt is washed away during heavy rains. Tamarix trees are most often propagated by cuttings.

"Tamarix" species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including "Coleophora asthenella" which feeds exclusively on "T. africana".

;Selected species

Tamarix in North America

The "Tamarix" was introduced to the United States as an ornamental shrub, a windbreak, and a shade tree in the early 1800s. [http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/plants/saltcedar.shtml] Eight species are found in North America. They can be divided into two sub-groups. The Tamarix aphylla, or Athel tree, a large evergreen tree, which does not sexually reproduce in the local climate and is not considered a seriously invasive species. The Athel tree is commonly used for windbreaks on the edge of agricultural fields and as a shade tree in the deserts of the Southwestern United States. And the deciduous tamarisk, which are small shrubby trees, commonly known as "saltcedars" these include the Tamarix pentandra, Tamarix tetranda, Tamarix gallica, Tamarix chinensis, Tamarix ramosissima, and Tamarix parvifolia. [http://www.texasinvasives.org/Invasives_Database/Results/Detail.asp?Symbol=TAAP]

It establishes in disturbed and undisturbed streams, waterways, bottom lands, banks and drainage washes of natural or artificial water bodies, moist rangelands and pastures, and other areas where seedlings can be exposed to extended periods of saturated soil for establishment.

It is commonly believed that "Tamarix" disrupts the structure and stability of North American native plant communities and degrades native wildlife habitat by outcompeting and replacing native plant species, salinizing soils, monopolizing limited sources of moisture, and increasing the frequency, intensity and effect of fires and floods. While it has been shown that individual plants may not consume larger quantities of water than native species (Anderson, 1996,1998) it has also been shown that large dense stands of "Tamarix" do consume more water than equivalent stands of native cottonwoods (Sala 1996). There is an active and ongoing debate as to when "Tamarix" can out-compete native plants and if it is actively displacing native plants or it just taking advantage of disturbance by removal of natives by humans and changes in flood regimes Harv|Cooper|1999 Harv|Cooper|2003 Harv|Everitt|1980Harv|Everitt|1998Harv|Stromberg|1998. Research on competition between "Tamarix" seedlings and co-occurring native trees has found that the seedlings are not competitive over a range of environments Harv|Sher|Marshall|Gilbert|2000Harv|Sher|Marshall|Taylor|2002Harv|Sher|Marshall|2003, however stands of mature trees effectively prevent native species establishment in the understory, due to low light, elevated salinity, and possibly changes to the soil biota (e.g. Harv|Busch|Smith|1995 and Harv|Taylor|McDaniel|1998. Thus, anthropogenic activities that preferentially favor tamarisk (such as changes to flooding regimes) are associated with infestation Harv|Shafroth|Stromberg|Patten|2000 Harv|Merritt|Cooper|2000 Harv|Horton|Kolb|Hart |2001. To date, Tamarix has taken over large sections of riparian ecosystems in the Western United States that were once home to native cottonwoods and willows Harv|Christensen|1962 Harv|Stromberg|1998 Harv|Zamora|2001 Harv|Zavaleta|2000, and are projected by some to spread well beyond the current range Harv|Morisette|2006.

Uses

The tamarisk is used as an ornamental shrub, a windbreak, and a shade tree. The wood may be used for carpentry or firewood. It is a possible agroforestry species. [http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/cropView?id=10274 Tamarix aphylla] , in Ecocrop.]

Plans are being made for the tamarisk to play a role in anti-desertification programs in China. [http://www.ambchine.mu/eng/xwdt/t369657.htm Tree by Tree, China Rolls Back Deserts.] ] , [http://www.asiawaterwire.net/node/466 Taklamakan - Where Oil and Water Don't Mix] ]

Saltcedars can be planted to mine salts, then be used in the production of fuel and fertilizer (although the latter will be somewhat salty). [http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/Eichornia_crassipes.html Eichornia crassipes] , in "Handbook of Energy Crops". By James A. Duke. 1983.]

Cultural History

In Genesis 21:33, Abraham is recorded to have "planted a tamarisk at Beer-sheba". He had built a well there earlier.

In a campaign in the computer game, Age of Mythology, the head of Osiris is said to be hidden inside a great Tamarisk tree. Wedgwood made a “Tamarisk” China pattern.

References

* [http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/cgi-bin/nph-readbtree.pl/feout?FAMILY_XREF=&GENUS_XREF=Tamarix&SPECIES_XREF=&TAXON_NAME_XREF=&RANK=species Flora Europaea "Tamarix"]
* [http://www.efloras.org/browse.aspx?flora_id=3&start_taxon_id=132255 Flora of China "Tamarix" species list]
* [http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/tama1.htm U.S. NPS guide]

Further reading

* Citation
last=Anderson| first=B. W.
title=Salt cedar, revegetation and riparian ecosystems in the Southwest.
journal=Proceedings of the California Exotic Pest Plant Council, Symposium '95. California Exotic Pest Plant Council, Pacific Grove, California.
year=1996| pages=32-41.
* Citation
last=Anderson| first=B. W.
title=The case for salt cedar.
journal=Restoration and Management Notes | year=1998| volume=16| pages=130-134, 138.
* Citation
last=Cooper | first=D.
title=Factors Controlling the Establishment of Fremont Cottonwood Seedlings on the Upper Green River, USA
journal=Regul. Rivers: Res. Mgmt. | year=1999 | volume=15| pages=419-440 .
* Citation
last=Cooper | first=D.
title=Multiple pathways for woody plant establishment on floodplains at local to regional scales.
journal=Journal of Ecology | year=2003| volume=91| pages=182–196.
* Citation
last=Christensen| first=E. M.
title=The Rate of Naturalization of Tamarix in Utah.
journal=American Midland Naturalist | year=1962| volume=68| issue=1 |pages=51-57.
* Citation
last=Everitt| first=B. L.
title=Ecology of Saltcedar - A plea for research.
journal=Environmental Geology | year=1980| volume=| issue=3 |pages=77-84.
* Citation
last=Everitt| first=B. L.
title=Chronology of the spread of Tamarisk in the central Rio Grande.
journal=Wetlands | year=1998| issue=18 |pages=658-668.
* Citation
last=Stromberg| first=J. C.
title=Dynamics of Fremont cottonwood (Populus fremontii) and saltcedar (Tamarix chinesis) populations along the San Pedro River, Arizona
journal=Journal of Arid Environments | year=1998| issue=40|pages=133-155.
* Citation
last=Stromberg| first=J. C.
title=Functional equivalency of saltcedar (Tamarix chinensis) and Fremont cottonwood (Populus fremontii) along a free-flowing river.
journal=Wetlands | year=1998| issue=18|pages=675-686.
* Citation
last=Zamora-Arroyo| first=F.
title=Regeneration of native trees in response to flood releases from the United States into the delta of the Colorado River, Mexico.
journal=Journal of Arid Environments | year=2001| issue=49|pages=49-64.
* Citation
last=Zavaleta| first=E.
title=The Economic Value of Controlling an Invasive Shrub
journal=Ambio | year=2001| volumne=29 | issue=8|pages=462-467.

* Citation
last=Sher|last=Marshall|last=Gilbert|
title=Competition between native Populus deltoides and invasive Tamarix ramosissima and the implications of reestablishing flooding disturbance.
journal=Conservation Biology
volume=14| year=2000| pages=1744-1754.

* Citation
last=Sher|Marshall|Taylor|
title=Spatial partitioning within southwestern floodplains: patterns of establishment of native Populus and Salix in the presence of invasive, non-native Tamarix.
journal= Ecological Applications
volume=12| year=2002| pages=760-772.

* Citation
last=Sher|Marshall|
title=Competition between native and exotic floodplain tree species across water regimes and soil textures.
journal= American Journal of Botany
volume=90| year=2003| pages=413-422.

* Citation
last=Bush|Smith|
title= Mechanisms associated with decline of woody species in riparian ecosystems of the southwestern U.S.
journal= Ecological Monographs
volume=65| year=1995| pages=347-370.

* Citation
last=Taylor|McDaniel|
title= Restoration of saltcedar (Tamarix sp.)-infested floodplains on the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.
journal=Weed Technology
volume=12| year=1998| pages=345-352.

* Citation
last=Shafroth|Stromberg|Patten|
title= Woody riparian vegetation response to different alluvial water table regimes.
journal=Western North American Naturalist
volume=60| year=2000| pages=66-76.

* Citation
last=Meritt|Cooper|
title= Riparian vegetation and channel change in response to river regulation: A comparative study of regulated and unregulated streams in the Green River Basin, USA.
journal=Regulated Rivers: Research and Management
volume=16| year=2000| pages=543-564.

* Citation
last=Horton|Kolb|Hart
title= Responses of riparian trees to interannual variation in ground water depth in a semi-arid river basin
journal=Plant, Cell and Environment
volume=24| year=2001| pages=293-304.

External links

* [http://zipcodezoo.com/Key/Plantae/Tamarix_Genus.asp Tamarix (Genus) zipcodezoo.com]
* [http://cpluhna.nau.edu/Biota/tamarisk.htm Exotic Tamarisk on the Colorado Plateau]
* [http://www.solutions-site.org/artman/publish/article_59.shtml Tamarix] , a natural resource on which the communities depend for fuelwood, tools, and basket making.
* [http://www.unep.org/desertification/successstories/15.htm Afforestation and Salinity Control Using Tamarix; in Western China]