52 



The vegetation is exceedingly scanty. At long intervals 

 small stunted bushes of Halostachys caspica may be seen, a 

 leafless dwarf-bush with assimilating shoots like those of Sa- 

 licornia. 



Halocnemum strobilaceum, a small bush, distinguished by 

 its globular dwarf-shoots, has a similar appearance. Also 

 Lyciiim ruthenicum is a bush with fleshy cylindrical leaves; 

 like the other two it scarcely attains the height of one foot 

 on this wet saline soil, but under favourable circumstances 

 it may become many times larger. (See for instance the 

 chapter on the riverside thickets). 



A number of annual species are also characteristic for 

 the salt-desert, or may be found there. The more important 

 of these are: Salicornia herbacea, Halopeplis pygmaea (this 

 has exceedingly succulent, thick and almost globular leaves), 

 Succda setigera, arcuata, corniculata etc., Bienertia cycloptera, 

 Halogeton glomeratus, Statice leptostachya and spicata, species 

 of Sa/so/a, (S. crassa, obtusifolia etc.) and Halimocnemis which, 

 however, usually occurs more frequently on somewhat drier 

 soil. The same holds good for Frankenia pulverulenta and 

 the prostrate undershrub Frankenia hirsuta, also for Anabasis, 

 some species of which are herbaceous perennials, some under- 

 shrubs, and all with leafless assimilating shoots. Other her- 

 baceous perennials are Statice otolepis with broad leaves 

 arranged in rosettes, and Aeluropus littoralis, a prostrate bluish- 

 grey grass. 



My experience is that Aeluropus, Hatostachys, Halocnemum 

 and Salicornia are the species most frequently met with on 

 "Ssor". On one occasion near Chodsheli (in July) I found 

 Phragmites communis in a locality of this kind. The soil 

 was moist and brown at the depth of a few centimetres, but 

 the surface was dry, white and dusty with salts. The Phrag- 

 mites plants were small, and with surface-runners as when 

 the species grows on wet sand in the north of Europe, but 

 these runners did not exceed 30 cm. in length. Tamarix 

 bushes, half a metre high, were growing scattered along with 

 Phragmites. 



The species mentioned above are all Halophytes. Most 

 of them are Chenopodiaceae and belong to the succulent, 



