Entry From
Flora of North America, Vol 4,
Discussion
Salsola paulsenii may be expected in the future also in New Mexico and Texas, as well as in some Great Plains states. It was first reported from North America by P. A. Munz (1968). Additional details of distribution and morphology of this species have been discussed by J. C. Beatley (1973c), T. C. Fuller (1986), and S. Rilke (1999).
Salsola paulsenii is weakly differentiated from S. tragus sensu stricto. Intermediate forms between them seem to be more common along margins of the natural range of the species and in secondary, synanthropic localities. According to S. Rilke (1999), the hybrids S. paulsenii × S. tragus are identical with S. ×gobicola Iljin. Forms conventionally named as “Salsola X” and “S. paulsenii lax form” with 2n = 54 (H. L. Arnold 1972; F. J. Ryan and D. R. Ayres 2000) are probably also of hybrid origin.
Reports of chromosome number 2n = 18 for Salsola paulsenii are probably erroneous and based on misinterpretation of data provided by N. L. Semiotrocheva (1983).