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Plant Conservation Alliance®s Alien Plant Working Group 

Xeeds HoneXild: Alien Plant Invaders of Natural Areas 

http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/

FACT SHEET: SALTCEDAR

Saltcedar 

Tamarix aphylla, T. chinensis, T. gallica, T. parviflora, and T. 

ramosissima

Tamarisk family (Tamaricaceae) 

NATIVE RANGE 

Eurasia and Africa 

DESCRIPTION 

Most saltcedars, or tamarisks, are deciduous shrubs or small trees growing to 

12-15 feet in height and forming dense thickets. Tamarix aphylla is an 

evergreen tree that can grow to 50 feet tall and tends to flower during the 

winter. Saltcedars are characterized by slender branches and gray-green 

foliage. The bark of young branches is smooth and reddish-brown. As the 

plants age, the bark becomes brownish-purple, ridged and furrowed. Leaves 

are scale-like, about 1/16 inch long and overlap each other along the stem. They are often encrusted with salt secretions. 

From March to September, large numbers of pink to white flowers appear in dense masses on 2-inch long spikes at 

branch tips. 

ECOLOGICAL THREAT 

Saltcedars are fire-adapted species and have long tap roots that allow them to intercept deep water tables and interfere 

with natural aquatic systems. Saltcedar disrupts the structure and stability of native plant communities and degrades 

native wildlife habitat by outcompeting and replacing native plant species, monopolizing limited sources of moisture, and 

increasing the frequency, intensity and effect of fires and floods. Although it provides some shelter, the foliage and flowers 

of saltcedar provide little food value for native wildlife species that depend on nutrient-rich native plant resources. 

DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES 

Saltcedar occurs in the intermountain region of the western United States, throughout the Great Basin, and California and 

Texas. The maps below from left to right are: Tamarix aphylla, T. chinensis, T. gallica, T. parviflora, and T. ramosissima. 

HABITAT IN THE UNITED STATES 

Saltcedar establishes in disturbed and undisturbed streams, waterways, bottomlands, 

banks and drainage washes of natural or artificial waterbodies, moist rangelands and 

pastures, and other areas where seedlings can be exposed to extended periods of 

saturated soil for establishment. Saltcedar can grow on highly saline soils containing up 

to 15,000 ppm soluble salt and can tolerate alkali conditions. 

BACKGROUND 

Saltcedar was introduced to the western U.S. as an ornamental shrub in the early 1800s. 

BIOLOGY & SPREAD 

Saltcedar spreads vegetatively, by adventitious roots or submerged stems, and sexually. 

Each flower can produce thousands of tiny (1/25-inch diameter) seeds that are contained 

in a small capsule usually adorned with a tuft of hair that aids in wind dispersal. Seeds 

can also be dispersed by water. Seedlings require extended periods of soil saturation for 

establishment. 
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Plant Conservation Alliance®s Alien Plant Working Group 

Xeeds HoneXild: Alien Plant Invaders of Natural Areas 

http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/

MANAGEMENT OPTIONS 

Management of saltcedar requires a long term commitment to maintain at low 

levels and prevent reinfestation. A variety of methods have been used in the 

management of saltcedar, including mechanical, chemical and biological. The 

most effective management probably involves a combination of these. Mechanical 

techniques include hand-pulling, digging, root-cutting, use of weed eaters, axes, 

machetes, bulldozers, fire and flooding. Removal by hand is generally 

recommended for small infestations of saplings under 1-inch diameter. Rootcutting and bulldozing may be effective but are costly, labor intensive and may 

cause extensive damage to soils and lead to resprouting. Fire has been used with 

some success, but because saltcedars are fire-adapted, they readily resprout 

after fire. Flooding can be used to control salt cedar if root crowns remain 

submerged for at least three months. 

Chemical 

For extensive infestations of saltcedar, chemical control has been shown to be the 

most effective method. Cautious use of herbicides aids in restoration of saltcedar 

infested sites by allowing repopulation by native plant species. Systemic 

herbicides (e.g., those that kill the plant from the root up) are recommended for 

saltcedar management and application methods include foliar sprays, cut stump 

treatments, basal bark treatments, and aerial sprays. Because tamarisk usually grows in or adjacent to streams, wetlands 

and other waterways, it is important to use products registered for aquatic application. 

Biological 

Fifteen insects are being investigated as potential biological control agents for saltcedar. Two of these, a mealybug 

(Trabutina mannipara) and a leaf beetle (Diorhabda elongata), have preliminary approval for release. Five others are 

being tested within the United States and an additional eight species are under study overseas. Final approval for release 

of the mealybug and the leaf beetle is pending resolution of concerns regarding their potential impact to the southwestern 

subspecies of the willow flycatcher (Empidonax trailii extimus), a federally endangered bird. In parts of its range where 

native willows, its natural nest trees, have been replaced by saltcedar, the willow flycatcher now utilizes it for this purpose. 

Concern is over the possibility that, due to the environmental damage caused by tamarisk, native plant species may not 

be able to replace it if the biological control agents succeed in eliminating it. 

USE PESTICIDES WISELY: Always read the entire pesticide label carefully, follow all mixing and application instructions and wear all 

recommended personal protective gear and clothing. Contact your state department of agriculture for any additional pesticide use 

requirements, restrictions or recommendations. 

NOTICE: mention of pesticide products on this page does not constitute endorsement of any material.

CONTACTS 

For more information on the management of saltcedar, please contact: 

• Curt Deuser, National Park Service, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, curt_deuser at nps.gov 

OTHER LINKS 

• http://www.invasive.org/search/action.cfm?q=Tamarix 

• http://www.hear.org/starr/hiplants/images/thumbnails/html/tamarix_aphylla.htm

AUTHORS 

Rose-Marie Muzika, USDA Forest Service, Morgantown, WV 

Jil M. Swearingen, National Park Service, Washington, DC 

PHOTOGRAPHS 

Jil M. Searingen, National Park Service, Washington, DC (first photo) 

Forest & Kim Starr, US Geological Survey, HI. 
20 May 2005 Page 3 of 3 

Plant Conservation Alliance®s Alien Plant Working Group 

Xeeds HoneXild: Alien Plant Invaders of Natural Areas 

http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/

REFERENCES 

Baum, B.R. 1978. The genus Tamarix. The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Jerusalem. 

Carman, J.G. and J.D. Brotherson. 1982. Comparisons of sites infested and not infested with saltcedar and Russian olive. 

Weed Science 30:360-364. 

DeLoach, C.J., M.J. Pitcairn, and D. Woods. 1996. Biological control of saltcedar in Southern California. In: Joe DiTomaso 

and Carl E. Bell, eds., Proceedings of the Saltcedar Management Workshop, Rancho Mirage, California, pp. 30-

31. 

Howe, W.H. and F.L. Knopf. 1991. On the imminent decline of Rio Grande cottonwoods in central New Mexico. 

Southwestern Naturalist 36(2):218-224. 

Hudson, Laura E. 1999. Climatic and hydrologic effects on the establishment of Tamarix ramosissima in the cold desert of 

northern Wyoming (Bighorn Lake). M.S. Thesis, University of Montana, Missoula. 

Jackson, N.E. 1996. Chemical control of saltcedar (Tamarix ramosissima). In: Joe DiTomaso and Carl E. Bell, eds., 

Proceedings of the Saltcedar Management Workshop, Rancho Mirage, California, pp. 21-27. 

Swearingen, J. 2009. WeedUS Database of Plants Invading Natural Areas in the United States. 

http://www.invasive.org/weedus/. 

The Nature Conservancy. Tamarisk: Element Stewardship Abstract. In: Wildland Weeds Management & Research 

Program, Weeds on the Web. 

USDA, NRCS. 2009. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 

70874-4490 USA.