Large shrub or small tree to several metres tall. Branchlets waxy grey, appearing jointed and similar to those of Casuarina. Leaves 1-2 mm long, sheathing the stem. Flower clusters to 8 cm long on new wood, white to pale pink. Sepals 5. Petals 5, soon shed. Stamens 5; late summer to early autumn.
E Mediterranean, NE Africa, N India
Sometimes used as a windbreak or hedge.
Naturalised in South Australia, Queensland and occasionaly in New South Wales. Noxious in the Northern Territory where it has spread for hundreds of kilometres along the Finke River. Plants will sucker but spread is mostly through seed carried by water, birds and animals.
Sheathing leaves.
VIC: Cobram (church yard); Echuca (N lawn tennis courts); Swan Hill (median street tree).
Source: (1997). Tamaricaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
