Salsola vermiculataL.

shrubby Russian thistle

WFO wfo-0000437736 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Salsola vermiculata, photographed by Santiago Martín-Bravo
fig. a Santiago Martín-Bravo, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-12-07 / obs. 171679479
Salsola vermiculata, photographed by Duarte Frade
fig. b Duarte Frade, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 165133290
Salsola vermiculata, photographed by Duarte Frade
fig. c Duarte Frade, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 161273043
Salsola vermiculata, photographed by Duarte Frade
fig. d Duarte Frade, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 161272787
Salsola vermiculata, photographed by Vicente Lopes
fig. e Vicente Lopes, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 151698866
Salsola vermiculata, photographed by Rafael Medina
fig. f Rafael Medina, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 100833585
Salsola vermiculata, photographed by Naturalista
fig. g Naturalista, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 99864544
Salsola vermiculata, photographed by Rafael Medina
fig. h Rafael Medina, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 99510697

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 18 botanical countries

Regions where Salsola vermiculata is native: Algeria, Canary Is., Djibouti, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan-South Sudan, Tunisia, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Transcaucasus, Baleares, Portugal, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain AlgeriaDjiboutiMauritaniaMoroccoNigerSudan-South SudanTunisiaIranIraqLebanon-SyriaPalestineTranscaucasusPortugalSiciliaSpain Canary Is.BalearesSardegna
Native distribution of Salsola vermiculata, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Canary Is. CNY
Djibouti DJI
Mauritania MTN
Morocco MOR
Niger NGR
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tunisia TUN
Iran IRN ASIA-TEMPERATE
Iraq IRQ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Palestine PAL
Transcaucasus TCS
Baleares BAL EUROPE
Portugal POR
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
Spain SPA

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 17 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Caroxylon vermiculatum (L.) Akhani & Roalson
  • Chenopodium flavescens (Cav.) Schult.
  • Salsola flavescens Cav.
  • Salsola frankenioides (Caball.) Botsch.
  • Salsola hispanica Botsch.
  • Salsola microphylla Cav.
  • Salsola portilloi Caball.
  • Salsola tamariscifolia Lag.
  • Salsola vermiculata subsp. frankenioides Caball.
  • Salsola vermiculata subsp. tenuifolia Botsch.
  • Salsola vermiculata var. flavescens (Cav.) Moq.
  • Salsola vermiculata var. frankenioides (Caball.) Maire
  • Salsola vermiculata var. glabrescens Moq.
  • Salsola vermiculata var. microphylla (Cav.) Moq.
  • Salsola vermiculata var. portilloi (Caball.) Maire
  • Salsola vermiculata var. pseudopapillosa Caball.
  • Salsola vermiculata var. pubescens Moq.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.