Cistanche salsa Seeds | Cistanche

Desert hyacinth with a thick scaly yellow stem and a spike of tubular pale yellow flowers on salt crust — Desert Hyacinth (*Cistanche salsa*): Orobanchaceae, saline deserts of Central Asia.

LATIN NAME: Cistanche salsa

COMMON NAME: Cistanche, Desert Hyacinth

Plant Profile

Desert hyacinth is a scaly yellow parasite of Central Asian salt flats, flowering in spring with nothing green on it at all. It grows from Iran and Afghanistan through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to Xinjiang, Gansu and Inner Mongolia, on saline and gypsum soils where the only other plants are saltbushes and saxaul. The stem emerges in April, thick, fleshy and covered in overlapping triangular scales, and reaches 15 to 50 cm before opening a dense spike of tubular flowers that are pale yellow, sometimes flushed with lilac. There are no leaves and no roots: the plant is attached to the roots of a shrub, from which it draws everything it needs. After flowering the stem dries to a brown, woody stalk that stands through the summer and is collected for medicine. It is one of the plants that make a salt desert look momentarily inhabited in spring.

Science & Biotechnology

Cistanche salsa is a holoparasite of the broomrape family, and its seed will only germinate in the presence of strigolactones released by the roots of a suitable host, chiefly Haloxylon ammodendron, Anabasis, Salsola and Kalidium. The seedling attaches through a haustorium, a wedge of tissue that pushes into the host’s xylem and taps its water supply, and from then on the parasite has no independent existence. Because the host is a deep-rooted desert shrub, the parasite has access to water that no annual could reach, which is how a fleshy flowering stem can appear on ground that looks sterile. The plant accumulates phenylethanoid glycosides, including echinacoside and acteoside, and these compounds are the basis of its pharmaceutical interest, particularly in neuroprotection research. It also stores salts and sugars in the stem, and the local name desert hyacinth refers to the flower spike rather than to any relationship with a hyacinth.

Uses & Benefits

The dried stem is an important Chinese medicine, sold as a source of rou cong rong alongside the more prized Cistanche deserticola, and it is used as a kidney tonic and a laxative in traditional practice. Modern research has focused on its phenylethanoid glycosides, and cultivated material is now produced in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia to take pressure off wild stands. The young stems are eaten cooked in some parts of Central Asia, though they are bitter and are usually boiled more than once. In Mongolia the plant is used as a tonic tea. For gardeners it has no practical use, since it cannot be grown without its host, but it is a striking subject for a desert garden where saxaul or saltbush is already established. Wild collection is heavy around accessible oases, and the species is now scarce in parts of its Chinese range.

Growing from Seed

Sow the dust-like seed around the base of an established host, scattering it on the soil surface within half a metre of the stem and watering it in lightly; the seed needs the host’s root exudates and will not germinate otherwise. Suitable hosts include Haloxylon, Anabasis, Salsola and Kalidium, all of which need free-draining, saline soil and full sun. Plant the host at least two years before sowing the parasite, and do not disturb the ground afterwards. Germination may take a full season, and the first stems appear close to the host crown. Keep the site dry in summer and do not add organic matter, which encourages the host’s foliage and rots the parasite’s attachment. Success is unpredictable even for experienced growers, and the plant is best treated as an experiment rather than a crop.

Our Take

A fleshy desert parasite that lives off saxaul roots and is harvested for medicine across Central Asia. Grow it only with a host.

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