Relatives
Camphorosma monspeliaca L. - Montpellierian Camphor-fume.
Taxonomic position.
Family Chenopodiaceae Less., genus Camphorosma L.Synonyms.
C. perenne Pall., C. ruthenicum M.B.Morphology and biology.
Perennial plant. Semishrub 10-50 cm tall, forming dense mat of lignescent branchlets on the soil surface, annual shoots branched in upper parts arising from the mat, whitish or white-tomentose with dense short and curly hairs. Leaves subulate, 3-10 mm long, somewhat rigid, straight or reflexed, with shortened branchlets in axils, covered with straight long hairs. Flowers solitary in bracteole axils, aggregated in dense and short spicate inflorescences. Perianth 3-3.5 mm, densely hairy with long hairs, or with short hairs and glabrous beneath, with two herbaceous lateral teeth, deflexed at fruits and two scarious short medial teeth. Seeds oval or oblong-oval, 1.5-1.75 mm long, brown or black-brown with scattered glandules. Flowers in July, fruits in September.Distribution.
Black Sea area, Crimea, the Lower Don area, the Lower Volga area, Caucasus, West Siberia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia.Ecology.
Typical plant of steppe and semidesert zones. On solonetz and subsaline steppes along river and lakesides, on debris, subsaline slopes, in depressions of hillocky sands.Use and economic value.
Plant of forage significance for camels, sheep and goats. Valuable plant for making autumn and winter pastures in semidesert zone in a mix with other Chenopodiaceae (Krascheninnikovia, Kochia, Salsola). Contains essential oil with camphor smell, used in folk medicine.References:
Grossheim AA. 1949. Manual of plants of Caucasus. Moscow. 747 p. (In Russian).Iljin MM. 1936. Genus Camphor-fume - Camphorosma L. In: Shishkin BK., ed. Flora URSS. V.6. Moscow; Leningrad. P.116-123. (In Russian).
Koropachinskiy IYu., Vstovskaya TN. 2002. Woody plants of the Asian part of Russia. Novosibirsk: Publishing House of Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Science, Branch "Geo". 707 p. (In Russian).
Kurochkina LYa., Osmanova LT., Karibaeva KN. 1986. Forage plants of Kazakhstan deserts. Alma-Ata. 208 p. (In Russian).
Musaev IF. 1965. Northern limits of distribution of typical components of Turan desert flora. In: Ranges of plants of the USSR flora. Leningrad: Leningrad University Publ. P.93-139. (In Russian).
Goloskokov VP., ed. 1969. Illustrated manual of the plants of Kazakhstan. V.1. Alma-Ata: Nauka. 644 p. (In Russian).
Bondarenko ON., Nabiev MM., eds. 1972. Manual of plants of Middle Asia. V.3. Tashkent. 268 p. (In Russian).
Fedchenko BA., ed. Flora of Turkmenia. V.2(2). Ashkhabad. 218 p. (In Russian).