Allenrolfea Occidentalis

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©1998 California Academy of Sciences

Patrick J. Alexander @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database

Patrick J. Alexander@USDA_NRCS PLANTS Database

Allenrolfea occidentalis, commonly known as iodine bush, pickleweed, or greasewood, can be found throughout Utah and much of the western and southwestern United States (Idaho, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas) on salt flats at elevations of 5000 feet or lower. It prefers the poorly rained, alkaline soils of the Great Basin Desert and can be found in abundance on the Great Salt Lake Playa.

Iodine bush is a stem-succulent halophyte. Succulents are plants that have distinctive water-storage tissues which enable them to live in arid regions. These tissues give halophytes a greater capacity for water storage. Succulent tissues can occur in roots, stems, or leaves and gives them a fleshy, swollen appearance. Halophytes are plants that have physiological adaptations that allow them to live and thrive in saline, or salty soils.

Iodine bush is a perennial shrub than can grow up to four feet in height, though it is normally found prostrate with the ground. It has woody bases, and succulent stems and shoots with many nodes and reduced, scale-like leaves, giving the plant a jointed appearance. Older shoots oftentimes become woody. If the stems are crushed are brown color results, which is where the name iodine bush is derived from. Flowers are non-showy and inconspicuous. Leaves are reduced and scale like. Its root system is shallow but extensive horizontally. As a result of this root morphology, iodine bush prefers moist soils with a reliable source of water.

Iodine bush, like many halophytes, uptakes salt from the soil and accumulates it in the form of sodium and chloride ions in its tissues. This results in relatively high tissue ion concentrations. The presence of ions in its tissues creates a negative internal water potential. In an attempt to normalize this osmotic imbalance, water is taken up into the tissues. As do most other plants, Iodine brush does not suffer from high concentrations of these ions (especially Na+) as do a majority of plants. This strategy enables it to withstand arid environments. In addition, it is one of the most salt tolerant species of halophytes, being able to withstand the saltiest of soils.

Iodine brush is of little forage value because of its “salty” stems, but the seeds are commonly consumed by birds and other small animals.

Ann Marie Raymondi, Fall 2007