Kali tragus is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae. In the 1870s, it appeared in South Dakota when flaxseed from Russia turned out to be contaminated with Kali seeds. It rapidly became a common ruderal weed of disturbed habitats in many regions of North America, particularly in the Midwest. It has become naturalized in various regions of Central and South America and in parts of Southern Africa and Australia.
About Kali tragus in brief
Kali tragus is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae. Linnaeus originally described the species as Salsola tragus. In the 1870s, it appeared in South Dakota when flaxseed from Russia turned out to be contaminated with Kali seeds. Kali tragus has proven to be highly invasive as an introduced species. It rapidly became a common ruderal weed of disturbed habitats in many regions of North America, particularly in the Midwest. It also has become naturalized in various regions of Central and South America and in parts of Southern Africa and Australia. The plant when young is considered edible, and the shoots of young plants can be harvested and eaten. People who are sensitive to oxalic acid should avoid the genus as it is a severe allergen for some people who have adverse reactions to spinach, which can also have high levels of oxalates, which are found in Russian thistle. The leaves of the mature plant are persistent, leathery, broader and shorter than the young leaves, rigid and spine-tipped. They remain on the stem till the plant dies at the end of the season. The flower lacks petals, but is surrounded by a disk of wide, winged sepals, whitish to pink in color. As they ripen, the plant begins to die, dries out and becomes brittle. In that state the base of the stem breaks off easily, especially in a high wind. The young shoots can be eaten raw in salads, and are reported to be more flavorful when cooked.
Young plants are also reported as good fodder for livestock. It can contain above average levels of acidic acid, particularly in older plants. It is a ruderal forb that rapidly germinates in very small amounts of moisture in arid conditions. When young, it may be freely grazed freely, but may be easily germinated in very large amounts of arid moisture in small conditions. It becomes woody as the fruits develop. As the plant matures, it becomes too, bitter, spiny and spiny to be even flavorful in cooked salads. It then rolls readily before the wind and disperses its seeds as a tumbleweed. It commonly grows along sea beaches as well as in disturbed grassland and desert communities,. especially in semiarid regions. It was once thought to be a single well-defined species, but it now is known to have included more than one species plus some hybrids. It now occupies a wide variety of habitat types in those regions and often is the first or even the only colonizer in conditions where no local species can compete successfully. Because of its preference for sand and its tolerance of salinity, it commonly grows in sand and desert areas. In habit, the young plant is erect. It grows into a rounded clump of branched, tangled stems, each one up to about a metre long. It may be green, red, or striped, and they may be hairless or pubescent. The mature leaves are tipped with spines that in most varieties are so sharp.
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This page is based on the article Kali tragus published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 10, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
