Sarcobatus vermiculatus

Distribution of Sarcobatus vermiculatus (black greasewood) in western North America based on several sources (general outline, not precise). Sarcobatus vermiculatus is a highly salt tolerant shrub characteristic of arid habitats, particularly playa lake margins. It also occurs on well drained hill slopes up to the juniper zone. The plant, seeds (fruits) and pollen are distinctive and it has an extensive pollen record back to (at least) the Miocene. During the last full-glacial (18-22 Ka) Sarcobatus vermiculatus occurred west of and south of its current range limits (figure on right).
(selected !) full-glacial publications

Tulare Lake, CA
Davis, O.K. 1999. Pollen Analysis of Tulare Lake, California: Great Basin - Like Vegetation in Central California. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 107: 249-257.

Walker Basin, Gulf of Colorado
Davis, O.K., T. Jull, L. Keigwin 1992. Preliminary Pollen Analysis of Cores from the Northern Gulf of California. Current Research Pleistocene 9:87-89. (sarcobatus curve not shown in publ.)

Willcox Playa, AZ
Davis, O.K. 1998. Palynological evidence for vegetation cycles in a 1.5 million year pollen record from the Great Salt Lake, Utah, U.S.A. Palaeo. Palaeo. Palaeo. 138:175-185.


MAPS
Calflora map

http://www.pprl.usu.edu/greasewo.htm western USA map

http://www.gis.usu.edu/Geography-Department/utgeog/utvatlas/family/chen/save4.html Utah Map

Vascular plants of Wyoming map


Plant Pictures

http://www.em.ca/garden/nat_sarcobatus_vermiculatus.html

http://ww1.clunet.edu/wf/des/flowers/fwr-365.htm

http://eco.bio.lmu.edu/socal_nat_hist/plants/species/sarc_ve.htm

http://www.usask.ca/agriculture/plantsci/classes/range/sarcobatus.html

http://ls.la.asu.edu/herbarium/treeshrub/pages/plants/sarver.html

http://www.vetallergy.com/greasewood.htm

Demography of desert phreatophytic shrubs

http://www.rwrp.umt.edu/Educational%20posters/leaves%20and%20things2/black_greasewood.htm