SARCOBATACEAE

(Greasewood family)

• Medicinal / Folk-medicinal aspects: •
• Adverse effects: These are spiny plants capable of inflicting mechanical injury. •
• Veterinary aspects: •

Classified until recently in the family Chenopodiaceae and considered to be monotypic (Mabberley 1987), the family comprises just one genus and two species. However, where the two species grow together, they may intergrade, making assignment to either of the taxa somewhat arbitrary.^a

^a https://floranorthamerica.org/Sarcobatus; accessed September 2025

Sarcobatus baileyi Coville

[syn. Sarcobatus vermiculatus var. bayleyi (Coville) Jeps.]

Bailey's Greasewood

Coville (1892) described this species, which is endemic to Nevada, USA,^a as having divaricate, closely interlocking branches, the ultimate branchlets being always spinescent; further, that the plant differs from Sarcobatus vermiculatus (Hook.) Torr. [see below] in its smaller size, always spinescent branchlets, and its intricate and compact growth.

^a https://floranorthamerica.org/Sarcobatus_baileyi; accessed September 2025

Sarcobatus vermiculatus (Hook.) Torr.

[syns Batis vermiculata Hook., Fremontia vermiculata (Hook.) Torr., Sarcobatus maximiliani Nees]

Black Greasewood, Greasewood, Saltbush, Seepwood

This species, which is found in western North America,^a has been described as a much branched shrub, the branches of which are beset with a great number of long, sharp, strong, woody thorns (Behnke 1997). Pammel (1911) noted that greasewood (this species) frequently produces mechanical injuries and that its sharp, stiff branches easily penetrate the skin and sometimes induce pus infection [sic].

It should not be confused with Larrea tridentata (DC.) Coville (fam. Zygophyllaceae), an unrelated plant also known as greasewood.

^a https://floranorthamerica.org/Sarcobatus_vermiculatus; accessed September 2025

References

• Behnke H-D (1997) Sarcobataceae – a new family of Caryophyllales. Taxon 46(3): 495–507 [doi] [doi-2] [url] [url-2]
• Coville FV (1892) Descriptions of new plants from southern California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 7(May): 65–80 [url] [url-2]
• Mabberley DJ (1987) The Plant-Book. A portable dictionary of the higher plants. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [WorldCat] [url]
• Pammel LH (1911) A Manual of Poisonous Plants. Chiefly of North America, with Brief Notes on Economic and Medicinal Plants, and Numerous Illustrations. Cedar Rapids, IA: Torch Press [WorldCat] [url] [url-2]

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