Salt Cedar Tamarix ramosissima

Salt cedar is a deciduous, thicket forming, flowering shrub or small tree, growing to 5-25 feet tall and often found in coastal areas but also drier areas. The showy flowers last through spring and summer.  It has scaly gray-green juniper-like foliage but is neither a conifer nor an evergreen.  It produces true flowers which are pink and appear from June to August. Its branches are long, slender and arching and have an attractive reddish color. The common name salt cedar comes from not only the plant's ability to withstand saline conditions but to actually produce salt. 

The salt cedar was thought to be introduced to the USA in the the1800s as an ornamental plant. It needs full sun in dry to wet well-drained soils, including heavy clay and alkaline soils. The plant produces 1,000s of seeds that are spread by wind and water over distances. The root system is a deep tap root and spreading rhizomes. It has naturalized in floodplains, riverbanks, ditches, marshes, waste areas and roadsides in many areas of the West, Southwest, east coast and Great Plains. The plant spreads quickly and reduces available water in the ecosystem. It also deposits salt into the soil preventing native plants from growing.

This plant is an undesirable species and should not be planted. It is listed as invasive by the NC Invasive Plant Council, in SC, and several central and western states. 

Insects, Diseases, and Other Plant Problems: No known diseases or insect pests. Weedy and invasive. See native alternatives to the left.