Salsola gobicola

Barbwire russian thistle

Family: Chenopodiaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Barbwire russian thistle is a naturalized annual plant found in southern San Joaquin Valley, northern Western Transverse Ranges, southeastern Sierra Nevada, and eastern Mojave Desert in disturbed, sandy places at elevations of 120 to 2,200 meters. Flowering from July to October, this plant produces white to translucent flowers with opaque wing bracts on spiny cylindric inflorescences. Growing with spreading to ascending stems up to 1.5 meters tall, the plant is longitudinally ribbed and occasionally marked with red stripes. Its leaves are gray-green to yellow-green, becoming rigid and leathery with age, ranging from 8 to 52 millimeters long with sharp-pointed or spiny tips. The distinctive fruit develops five roughly translucent wings, often featuring a yellow or pink spot at its base.

Habitat: Common. Disturbed, sandy, places

Bloom period: Jul-Oct

Elevation: 120-2200 m

Bioregions: s SnJV, n WTR, SNE, DMoj

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.