{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = Haloxylon ammodendron.jpg |image_caption = ''Haloxylon ammodendron'' |display_parents = 2 |taxon = Haloxylon |authority = Bunge ex Fenzl<ref name="POWO">{{cite taxon|powo |id=924870-1 |title=''Haloxylon'' Bunge ex Fenzl |access-date=6 February 2026}}</ref> }}
'''''Haloxylon''''' is a genus of shrubs or small trees, belonging to the plant family Amaranthaceae. ''Haloxylon'' and its species are known by the common name '''saxaul'''. "Saksaul" is a common Turkic word<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Каримуллина |first1=Г. Н. |title=Тюркизмы в русской лингвографии XVIII – XX вв.: семантико-функциональный аспект |journal=Ученые записки Казанского государственного университета |date=2007 |volume=149 |doi=|url=https://kpfu.ru/portal/docs/F1025155834/149_2_gum_25.pdf |access-date=8 February 2024 |language=Russian}}</ref> that entered Russian through Kazakh.
==Description== The species of genus ''Haloxylon'' are shrubs or small trees {{convert|1|-|8|m|abbr=off|frac=2|ft}} (rarely up to {{convert|12|m|ft|abbr=on|disp=or}}) tall, with a thick trunk and many branches. The branches of the current year are green, from erect to pendant. The leaves are reduced to small scales. The inflorescences are short shoots borne on the stems of the previous year. The flowers are very small, as long or shorter than the bracteoles, bisexual or male. The two stigmas are very short. In fruit, the perianth segments develop spreading wings. The fruit with wings is about {{convert|8|mm|in|frac=4}} in diameter. The seed is about {{convert|1.5|mm|2|abbr=on|frac=64}} in diameter.<ref name=hedge>{{cite book|first=I. C.|last=Hedge|chapter=''Haloxylon''|editor= Rechinger, Karl Heinz |display-editors=et al.|title=Flora Iranica Bd. 172, Chenopodiaceae|pages=315–326|publisher=Akad. Druck|location= Graz |year=1997|isbn= 3-201-00728-5}}</ref>
==Distribution and habitat== The genus ''Haloxylon'' is distributed in southwest and Central Asia, from Egypt to Mongolia and China (Xinjiang and Gansu), where it grows in sandy habitats (psammophyte).<ref name=hedge/>
==Taxonomy== The genus name ''Haloxylon'' (meaning "salt wood" in Greek) was published by Alexander Bunge (ex Eduard Fenzl) in 1851, with the type species ''Haloxylon ammodendron''; it belongs to the subfamily Salsoloideae in the family Amaranthaceae. ''Plants of the World Online'' includes 11 species {{As of|2026|02|lc=y}}, as follows:{{R|POWO}} *''Haloxylon ammodendron'' {{Au|(C.A.Mey.) Bunge ex Fenzl}} – black saxaul *''Haloxylon gracile'' {{Au|(Aellen) Hedge}} *''Haloxylon griffithii'' {{Au|(Moq.) Boiss.}} *''Haloxylon multiflorum'' {{Au|(Moq.) Bunge ex Boiss.}} *''Haloxylon negevensis'' {{Au|(Iljin & Zohary) L.Boulos}} *''Haloxylon persicum'' {{Au|Bunge}} – white saxaul *''Haloxylon salicornicum'' {{Au|(Moq.) Bunge ex Boiss.}} *''Haloxylon schmittianum'' {{Au|Pomel}} *''Haloxylon scoparium'' {{Au|Pomel}} *''Haloxylon tamariscifolium'' {{Au|(L.) Pau}} *''Haloxylon thomsonii'' {{Au|Bunge ex Boiss.}}
Phylogenetic research revealed that several species formerly included in ''Haloxylon'' are not related to this genus. They are now classified to genus ''Hammada''; the former ''Haloxylon stocksii'' (syn. ''Haloxylon recurvum'') has been moved to ''Soda stocksii''.
The common name ''saxaul'', sometimes ''sacsaoul'' or ''saksaul'', comes from the Russian ''саксаул'' (''saksaul''), which is from Kazakh ''сексеуiл'' (''seksewil'').
==Ecology== In the deserts of Central Asia, a large number of birds are associated with saxaul, including the saxaul sparrow.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Maclean|first=Gordon Lindsay|year=1996|url=http://espace.lis.curtin.edu.au/archive/00000320/01/Bulletin_17.pdf|title=Avian adaptations to deserts of the Northern and Southern hemispheres: a comparison|journal=Curtin University of Technology School of Environmental Biology Bulletin|issue=17|access-date=2010-02-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080726022938/http://espace.lis.curtin.edu.au/archive/00000320/01/Bulletin_17.pdf|archive-date=2008-07-26|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Uses == The trees are used by nomads across the steppes of Central Asia as firewood.<ref>{{cite book |title=Jangar: The Heroic Epic of the Kalmyk Nomads |first=Saglar |last=Bougdaeva |date=10 January 2023 |publisher=U of California P |page=252 |isbn=9780520344723 |location=Oakland}}</ref>
In the former bed of the Aral Sea, saxaul trees are being planted to stop the wind picking up contaminated sand from the dried up sea bed and spreading them through the atmosphere. The plan is to cover the entire former bed with a forest.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Qobil |first1=Rustam |title=Restoring life to the Aral Sea's dead zone |work=BBC News |date=31 May 2018 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44159122 |access-date=2 June 2018}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} *{{cite journal|last1=Pyankov|first1= Vladimir I.|first2= Clanton C. Jr.|last2= Black|first3=Elena G. |last3=Artyusheva|first4=Elena V.|last4=Voznesenskaya|first5=Maurice S.B. |last5=Ku|first6= Gerald E. |last6=Edwards |year=1999|title=Features of Photosynthesis in ''Haloxylon'' species of Chenopodiaceae that are Dominant Plants in Central Asian Deserts|journal=Plant and Cell Physiology|volume=40|issue=2|pages=125–134 |doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.pcp.a029519|hdl=10995/111361|hdl-access=free}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Haloxylon}} * {{Wikispecies-inline|Haloxylon}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q268179}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Amaranthaceae Category:Amaranthaceae genera Category:Taxa named by Eduard Fenzl Category:Great Green Wall