Small-Flowered Tamarisk or Salt Cedar               TAM-a-riks par-vi-FLO-ra

• Deciduous tree/shrub, 12-15 ft (3.5-4,5 m); sprawly, twiggy.  Leaves alternate, simple, lanceolate, scale-like, 3 mm long (similar to juniper foliage).  Flowers very small (parviflora = small flowered), light pink, 4-parted, in 3-4 cm long clusters, bloom in spring.
• Sun, well-drained soil; develops a deep tap root and is drought tolerant.   Should be pruned hard after bloom to maintain graceful appearance.  Can be propagated by sticking a cutting in the ground at the beginning of winter.  Sometimes used in bonsai.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 4      Native to southeastern Europe
• There is confusion in labeling tamarisks in nurseries.  It is difficult to separate T. parviflora from T. tetranda, both are spring flowering.
• Tamarisks are known as Salt Cedars, especially the summer-flowering T. chinensis (formerly T. pentanda, some also include T. ramosissima in this species).  Some species have naturalized over much of the western US, the greatest infestations occur in Texas, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.   Tamarisks grow primarily in areas where its roots can reach ground water and the plant can tolerate saline conditions by exuding salt from its leaves.   They reduce biological diversity by relacing native riparian vegetation (Randall and Marinelle, 1996).
• Oregon State Univ. campus: Western Ave. and 16th St.