Saltceder
Tamarix ramosissima

A Class B in Washington, saltcedars are invasive to riparian areas of arid lands in the western United States, including parts of eastern WA. While there is a somewhat limited distribution in WA, the sites are spread out and difficult to find. The foliage of saltcedar does somewhat resemble a cedar tree, but it has pink to rose colored flowers in the spring and throughout the summer. Originally introduced as a wind block for homesteads, saltcedars have a taproot that can extend 60 meters in search of water. Capable of producing hundreds of thousands of seeds per plant, these species are very hard to remove from arid lands once they establish.

In western WA (and in areas throughout the west), saltcedar is sometimes found for sale as a garden ornamental. However, saltcedar is on the quarantine list (316 KB Acrobat file, 46 seconds on 56K modem) and is illegal to buy or offer this species for sale in Washington.

If you find saltcedar in King County, please notify us through our online infestation form.

To find out where we have records of this weed in King County, use our interactive noxious weed map and search for saltcedar.

Saltcedar photos - click thumbnail for larger image

For more information about saltcedar, please follow this link to the WA State Noxious Weed Control Board.