Salt cedar is a deciduous, thicket forming, flowering shrub or small tree, growing to 5-25 feet tall and often found in coastal areas but also drier areas. The showy flowers last through spring and summer. It has scaly gray-green juniper-like foliage but is neither a conifer nor an evergreen. It produces true flowers which are pink and appear from June to August. Its branches are long, slender and arching and have an attractive reddish color. The common name salt cedar comes from not only the plant's ability to withstand saline conditions but to actually produce salt. The salt cedar was thought to be introduced to the USA in the the1800s as an ornamental plant. It needs full sun in dry to wet well-drained soils, including heavy clay and alkaline soils. The plant produces 1,000s of seeds that are spread by wind and water over distances. The root system is a deep tap root and spreading rhizomes. It has naturalized in floodplains, riverbanks, ditches, marshes, waste areas and roadsides in many areas of the West, Southwest, east coast and Great Plains. The plant spreads quickly and reduces available water in the ecosystem. It also deposits salt into the soil preventing native plants from growing. This plant is an undesirable species and should not be planted. It is listed as invasive by the NC Invasive Plant Council, in SC, and several central and western states. Insects, Diseases, and Other Plant Problems: No known diseases or insect pests. Weedy and invasive. See native alternatives to the left.
Curated pairwise relationships between this plant and others in the library — who feeds
whom, who competes, who confuses the pests. Green reads as a good pairing, red as one to avoid.
No curated interactions recorded for this species yet.
Also noted by NC State
Related species the NC State Plant Toolbox flags for this plant — look-alikes to tell
apart, and plants that play a similar role in a planting. Ones we carry in the library are linked.
Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)
Soil texture
Clay; Loam (Silt); Sand
Soil pH
Acid (<6.0); Alkaline (>8.0); Neutral (6.0-8.0)
Soil drainage
Good Drainage | Occasionally Dry
Available space
12-24 feet
NC region
Coastal; Mountains; Piedmont
Mature size
Height: 5 ft. 0 in. - 25 ft. 0 in. | Width: 4 ft. 0 in. - 20 ft. 0 in.
Growth rate
Rapid
Maintenance
High
Canopy layer
2 - Understory (15-40 ft)
Form & Appearance
Habit / form
Multi-stemmed; Spreading
Texture
Medium
Foliage
Deciduous
Leaf color
Gray/Silver; Green
Leaf shape
Lanceolate
Leaf margin
Entire
Leaf size
< 1 inch long, < 1 inch wide
Hairs present
No
Leaf detail
Fine-textured, juniper-like foliage that is compound, alternate, scale-like and tightly overlapping along the stem. Lanceolate in shape with sharp to tapered tips
Flower color
Pink
Flower value
Long Bloom Season; Showy
Flower form
Raceme
Flower size
< 1 inch
Flower detail
Pink, feathery racemes in dense spike-like plumes that bloom in spring and summer on new wood.
Bloom time
Summer
Fruit type
Capsule
Fruit detail
Fruits are dry capsules that split open and disperse many seeds.
Stem color
Gold/Yellow; Gray/Silver; Orange; Red/Burgundy
Stem detail
Reddish, slender, arching branchlets are light red or orange-yellow and weeping when young. Older bark is grey.
Wildlife & Ecology
Native status
Non-native
Origin
Eastern Europe, Asia, Southern Russia to China
Distribution
California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.