Common Name:

General Information

Nitraria tangutorum is a prostrate to spreading, much-branched shrub; it usually grows around 100 - 200cm tall[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and a medicine. It is an important environmental species in the desert, providing food for many species, helping to stabilize the sand and slow the advance of the desert.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

E. Asia - western and northern China

Habitat

Sandy areas around lakes, oases, river terraces, sandy plains, aeolian basins, clay deserts, semidesert areas; at elevations from 1,900 - 3,500 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Shrub
Height	1.50 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Nitraria species generally prefer a light to medium well-drained soil in an open sunny position. Plants are very salt tolerant and usually grow well on saline soils[]. Established plants are very drought resistant[].
The fruit of Nitraria tangutorum, known as ‘desert cherry’, has a high potential economic value as a source of edible berries and has been traditionally used as healthy food. Local people often use the fruits to make fruit wine and to extract pigments as natural food colourings[].

Edible Uses

Fruit - raw or cooked[]. Eaten as a health food[]. The dark red, ovoid to sometimes ellipsoid fruit is 10 - 13mm × 6 - 9mm. The mesocarp is rosy when ripe. The seed is narrowly ovoid, 5 - 6mm long[].
The fruit of Nitraria tangutorum, known as ‘desert cherry’, has a high potential economic value as a source of edible berries and has been traditionally used as healthy food. Local people often use the fruits to make fruit wine and to extract pigments as natural food colourings[].

Medicinal

Tthe fruits and seeds are used to treat ailments of the spleen and stomach, indigestion, neurasthenia, and colds[].
The fruit is a native folk medicine used to treat dyspepsia, neurasthenia, abnormal menstruation, and heart disease in western China[].
The fruits are rich in polyphenols, alkaloids, flavonoids, amino acids, and other bioactive components. Its extracts and the isolates are effective in decreasing the blood lipid, blood pressure, and blood glucose levels and resisting oxidation activities[].

The leaves are used as an antispasmodic, antineuropathic, and antiarrhythmic agent in folk medicine[].

Agroforestry Uses:

Nitraria tangutorum is a pioneer species widely distributed in the northwestern regions of China. It has a high tolerance to drought, high temperature, cold, salinity, alkalinity, bareness, wind erosion, and sand burial and plays a pivotal role in the desert ecology by fixing sands as well as slowing down deserts’ expansion[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed -