General: Halogeton (Halogeton glomeratus) is a spreading to upright annual forb with small, fleshy leaves that each have a spine at the tip. This plant favors areas with salty soils and can concentrate salt in its tissues and at the soil surface. The flowers are small and individually inconspicuous, but there are so many flowers that they can obscure the stems.

Halogeton is an uncommon component of disturbed desert vegetation communities. Around Las Vegas, look for this species in town and in disturbed roadsides and open fields.

This is an invasive weed. If you have this species on your private property, please consider eradicating it. This species is listed as a Noxious Weed in many western states, but not in Nevada.

Family: Goosefoot (Chenopodiaceae).

Other Names: saltlover, barilla, Anabasis glomeratus

Plant Form: Spreading to upright annual forb with stiff stems. Resembles tumbleweeds.

Height: To about 18-inches tall.

Stems: Branched, spreading at the base, then ascending. Develop reddish color as the plant ages.

Leaves: Round, alternate, sessile, blue-green or grayish, fleshy, broadest at the tip, tipped with a spine.

Flowers: Numerous, dense clusters of flowers in leaf axils that can obscure the stems. Lack petals, 5 sepals enclose the seeds.

Seeds: Tiny, many per plant, contained inside sepals. Some seeds my stay attached to the dead stems during winter.

Habitat: Saline and alkaline sites in arid and semiarid areas with few native plants; disturbed sites, dry lakebeds.

Elevation: To about 6,000 feet.

Distribution: Throughout the US; native to cold desert regions of Eurasia.

Comments: This is an invasive weed. Feel free to pull it up.