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21st May 2012, Southport, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
A tall shrub or short tree to 5m planted near the sea in sandy soils as a wind-break and sand-stabiliser. It loves a salty soil. A white version of Japanese Rose growing on the right. |
21st May 2012, Southport, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
A mass of fine feathery twigs covered with as-yet un-opened pinkish red flower buds. |
21st May 2012, Southport, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
These are new seedlings growing amongst the grass. |
21st May 2012, Southport, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Each flowering twig is covered in buds without stalks. Twigs without flowers are covered in short scaly leaves held flat against the twig. These flowers not yet opened. I think your Author has somehow managed to get this photo on its side, oh well, never mind... |
21st May 2012, Southport, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
21st May 2012, Southport, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
21st May 2012, Southport, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
The larger red tips are developing buds. When fully open (not in this photo) the raceme of flowers is about 2 to 5cm long and 4 to 5mm wide. |
21st May 2012, Southport, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
The only time when the four sepals, which are pinkier than the flowers, are visible is when the flowers are un-opened. |
11th Sept 2018, a garden, Gtr M/cr. | Photo: © RWD |
The panicle of flowers is only amout 5mm wide when the flowers are fully opened, and 2-5cm long. |
11th Sept 2018, a garden, Gtr M/cr. | Photo: © RWD |
The style is pinkish-red and conical with a white 3-bladed (sometimes 4-bladed) style attached like ships (or narrowboats) propeller. |
11th Sept 2018, a garden, Gtr M/cr. | Photo: © RWD |
The sepal cup is very small, from which 5 very stubby sepal teeth splay out cupping the 5 petals only a very short way up. There are short isosceles triangle bracts in pairs(?) at frequent intervals (probably where the flower petioles originate) |
11th Sept 2018, a garden, Gtr M/cr. | Photo: © RWD |
The 5 anthers are white and presented T-bar fashion on long pink filaments projecting outwards beyond (and between) the petals. The filaments all emerge from a nectariferous disc in the centre of the flower, bearing nectar. |
21st May 2012, Southport, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Twigs are reddish. Leaves small and scaly and held flat against the twig. |
21st May 2012, Southport, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Twigs are reddish. Leaves small (1.5 to 3mm long), scaly and held flat against the twig. |
22nd June 2016, Southport, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Gone to fruit. |
22nd June 2016, Southport, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Gone to fruit. The petals have dropped off and the ovary has swollen and extended to become the fruit. |
22nd June 2016, Southport, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Gone to fruit. Still cupped by the sepal cup the fruit are gourd shaped, but with a square cross-section (although this could be because this might be a 4-petalled version?). Some anthers still attached as are some of the shrivelled and faded petals, as well as the remains of the 3 to 4 styles atop. |
22nd June 2016, Southport, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
The fruit with stigmas still attached to the tip and anthers still poking out from the sepal cups. The fruit is a capsule containing seeds with a tuft of hairs atop. |
21st May 2012, Southport, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Main bark of young trees is narrow, smooth and reddish-brown. As the tree ages it becomes bluish-purple, ridged and deeply furrowed. |
A GARDEN VERSIONAt Lancaster |
9th June 2015, a garden, Lancaster, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Growing in a garden, I can't guarantee this is not a cultivar. It strikes your Author that in this instance the flowering branches look like large versions of the individual flowering racemes. |
9th June 2015, a garden, Lancaster, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
This tree was mainly unusually and strikingly pinkish in flower, another reason to believe it is a cultivar. |
9th June 2015, a garden, Lancaster, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
There are some 4-petalled amongst the 5-petalled flowers on this tree. |
ANOTHER GARDEN VERSION - MAINLY 4-PETALLEDAt Penrhyn Bay |
28th May 2012, Penrhyn Bay, North Wales. | Photo: © RWD |
When opened, the twigs, covered in flowers held close to the twig, gain a very fuzzy appearance. |
28th May 2012, Penrhyn Bay, North Wales. | Photo: © RWD |
The flowers have 4 pink petals 1.5 to 2mm long.. |
28th May 2012, Penrhyn Bay, North Wales. | Photo: © RWD |
28th May 2012, Penrhyn Bay, North Wales. | Photo: © RWD |
A style with a 3 pronged stigma in the centre surrounded by 4 filaments with red anthers (best seen in the topmost floret). |
Easily mistaken for : Distinguishing Feature : The fine filigree featheriness of the foliage and the catkin-like panicles of pinkish flowers held very close to the stems. Tamarisk as in Tamarix gallica is deciduous as are three other species, but many other species of Tamarix are evergreen.
Tamarisk species (of which there are 50 to 60 in the World) are salt-loving tall shrubs or short trees, growing from 1m to 18m high. The leaves are tiny, green, over-lapping, and similar to those of Cypresses, hence the other common name 'Salt Cedar' although it belongs to neither the Pine Family (Pinaceae) nor to the Indigenous to Saudi Arabia, the trees usually grow in saline (salty) soils, tolerating up to 15,000ppm of soluble salt, but will also tolerate basic soils. In the UK they are mainly planted near the sea in seaside towns as ornamental shrubs. It is also planted on sandy shores to act as a sand-stabiliser and as a windbreak. It seems to also have an established presence in the Greater London area, but perhaps that simply reflects the greater number of observers in that area. It doesn't grow north of Northumberland in the UK. It can self-seed, but that does not occur often. The flowers are pinkish-white, small, up to 4mm across and have four petals, persisting when in fruit. The fruits are pinkish and shaped like a gourd. It flowers first in May, but there may be a second flowering in August in some years. In the Middle East it has been used medicinally to treat rheumatism and diarrhoea. It can also treat liver damage due to such compounds as alcohol and other liver toxins. Your Author admits he is puzzled by the number of petals reported by books and websites for Tamarisk. These sources say it has five petals, but the above photographs clearly show but four. In particular, he can find no photographs from other sources showing five petals! Can all written sources be wrong? Even Clive Stace writes that it has five petals. Or are the above photographs not of Tamarix? The Author finds that very hard to believe since all other photos on the web seem to show Tamarix with four petals. If anyone can shed light on this, please write in.
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gallica ![]() |
⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ |
Tamaricaceae ![]() |
![]() Tamarix (Tamarisks) |
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