Tree species in the genus Tamarix

Tamarix spp

Tamaricaceae

MVIMG_20260802_081354 CROPPED FOR THE WEBSITE 17.jpg

Tamarix spp

Tamaricaceae

MVIMG_20260802_081443 CROPPED FOR THE WEBSITE 16.jpg

Distribution in Athens At some of the southern coastal suburbs of Athens.

Countries and regions (POWO Database)
Area of origin Africa, Meditteranean to Temperate & Southern Asia.

General notes on Tamarisks.
Distribution, Ecology, Invasiveness, Landscape uses

Besides the seafront, tamarisks are planted in urban areas inland, in parks or streets.

In Europe, the most common tamarisks as urban trees seem to be T. gallica and T. ramosissima. Many ornamental varieties have been developed for T. ramosissima, distinguished by the appealing, pink color hues of their flower plumes. Occurrences of Tamarisks are listed in the tree inventories of London, Budapest, Paris, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Lisbon, Barcelona, Florence, Turin.

Similarly, T. aphylla, T. parviflora and other tamarisks are listed in tree inventories in cities in Australia, e.g. in the states of Victoria and Southern and Western Australia. Some species are used as ornamentals. However, some Tamarisk species are regarded as introduced weeds, although not generally as of national significance (WONS denomination species).

In California, T. aphylla and T. parviflora are planted as hardy ornamentals or as screen trees (Cal Poly SelecTree). At the same time, they are officially classified as potentially invasive in specific areas of the state. T. parviflora invades coastal mountain drainages and beetles have been released as biological agents for its control (Cal-IPC).

Some Tamarix species like T. aphylla (athel tree) can also be found in desert surroundings in countries of the Middle East. In United Arab Emirates, T. aphylla is planted along roadsides or near brackish water or sabkhas (salt marsh) in the desert.

The species adaptive strategies have been the object of studies, in light of its potential for future carbon sequestration and maintenance of ecosystem services under climate change (Iqbal et al 2024).

They are fire-adapted and phreatophytes e.g. they have long tap roots that allow them to intercept water tables and exploit natural water resources (Flora of Australia, Drabu et al 2012).

References on Tamarix spp

Books

Αραμπατζής, Θεόδωρος Ι. 2001.

Θάμνοι Και Δέντρα Στην Ελλάδα.

Δράμα: Οικολογική Κίνηση Δράμας.

Σφήκας, Γεώργιος. 1993.

Αγριολούλουδα της Κύπρου.

Efstathiadis group

Baumann Hellmutt, translated and revised by William T. & E.Ruth Stearn. 1993

Greek Wild Flowers and Plant Lore in Ancient Greece.

London. Herbert Press.

Baumann, Hellmutt . 1982

Die griechische Pflanzenwelt in Mythos, Kunst und Literatur.

‎Hirmer

Bean, W. J. 1863-1947.

Trees And Shrubs Hardy In the British Isles.

8th ed., fully revised;

Supplement by Desmond Clark (1988).

London: J. Murray, 19701980.

Dirr, Michael A. 2010.
Manual of Woody Landscape Plants : Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses. 6. ed., rev., [repr.].

Champaign, Illinois: Stipes.

Leonardi, Cesare, and Franca Stagi. 1982.

L’architettura Degli Alberi.

Milan

Strid, Arne, Stylianos Charalampidi, Panayotis Dimopoulos, and Thomas Raus. 2025.

Flora of the Athos Peninsula : Plant Life of the Holy Mountain.

Nicosia (Cyprus): Broken Hill Publishers LTD.

Théophraste, Suzanne Amigues, and Paul Bernard. 2010.

Recherches Sur Les Plantes À L’origine de La Botanique.

Paris: Belin.

Research Projects with Plant Species Selection Databases
Plante & Cité
Floriscope, n.d.
https://www.floriscope.io/

'Tamarix tetrandra'

https://www.floriscope.io/plantes/tamarix-tetrandra

'Tamarix ramosissima' and cultivars

https://www.floriscope.io/plantes/tamarix-ramosissima

https://www.floriscope.io/plantes/tamarix-ramosissima-pink-cascade

https://www.floriscope.io/plantes/tamarix-ramosissima-rubra

https://www.floriscope.io/plantes/tamarix-ramosissima-rosea

'Tamarix parviflora'

https://www.floriscope.io/plantes/tamarix-parviflora

'Tamarix gallica'

https://www.floriscope.io/plantes/tamarix-gallica

'Tamarix africana'

https://www.floriscope.io/plantes/tamarix-africana

Research Institutions

Guerrero Maldonado, N., López, M. J., Caudullo, G., 2016.

Tamarix - tamarisks in Europe: distribution, habitat, usage and threats.

In: San-Miguel-Ayanz, J., de Rigo, D., Caudullo, G., Houston Durrant, T., Mauri, A. (Eds.), European Atlas of Forest Tree Species.

Publ. Off. EU, Luxembourg, pp. e011f06+

https://forest.jrc.ec.europa.eu/media/atlas/Tamarix_spp.pdf

Plant Species databases

Trees and Shrubs Online

Articles from the book by Bean, W. J.)

'Tamarix parviflora'

https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/tamarix/tamarix-parviflora/

'Tamarix ramosissima'

https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/tamarix/tamarix-ramosissima/

"Tamarix gallica" syn. "Tamarix aegyptiaca"

https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/tamarix/tamarix-gallica/

New article for www.treesandshrubsonline.org

'Tamarix chinensis'

https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/tamarix/tamarix-chinensis/

SelecTree UFEI, Urban Forest Ecosystem Institute. California State Polytechnic University.

Select Tree, a Tree Selection Guide. (n.d.)

https://selectree.calpoly.edu/

https://selectree.calpoly.edu/tree-detail/1379 (Tamarix aphylla)

https://selectree.calpoly.edu/tree-detail/1382 (Tamarix parviflora)

Papers and Conference presentations

Drabu, S & Chaturvedi, Sushma & Sharma, M. (2012).

Tamarix gallica - An overview.

Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research. 5. 3-5.

https://innovareacademics.in/journal/ajpcr/Vol5Issue3/1096.pdf

Ikeda DH, Grady KC, Shuster SM, WhithamTG (2014)

Incorporating Climate Change and Exotic Species into Forecasts of Riparian Forest Distribution.

PLoSONE9(9):e107037.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0107037

Iqbal, Ummar, Ali Daad, Ahmad Ali, et al. 2024.

“Surviving the Desert's Grasp: Decipherment Phreatophyte Tamarix Aphylla (L.) Karst. Adaptive Strategies for Arid Resilience.”

Plant Science, ahead of print,.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plantsci.2024.112201

Tamar Zohary, Alla Alster, David Cummings, Amit Dolev, Werner Eckert, Gideon Gal, Avital Gasith, Edna Guk, Edit Leibovici, Eyal Ofir, Sharon Varulker & Yaron Be’eri Shlevin (2026)

Inundated Tamarix forest: a novel climate change-induced littoral habitat in Lake Kinneret, Israel.

Inland Waters, 16:1, 2557696,

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20442041.2025.2557696

Venturella G. 2019.

The genus Tamarix (Tamaricaceae) from archaeological to contemporary landscape.

Bocconea 28: 145-149.

https://herbmedit.org/papers/5416b211-20d4-4edc-9409-b02aa0eee3ae (link to pdf)

Wu, C., Xu, X., Zhang, G., Cheng, B., & Han, S. (2022).

PREDICTING THE POTENTIAL SUITABLE HABITAT FOR TAMARIX CHINENSIS UNDER CLIMATE CHANGE BASED ON CMIP6 IN CHINA.

Applied Ecology and Environmental Research.

https://doi.org/10.15666/aeer/2004_28452863

Floras