[Alice]

Does anyone know of the most likely species of Tamarix on sale in nurseries in Greece?
I include a not very detailed photo. Flowers: creamy-white; flowering time: autumn

[Bolanthus]

The species in your photo is probably Tamarix africana -though I'm not sure.
And as far as I know, T. parviflora is the most common species on sale in Greece.

[John]

I would guess at T. smyrnensis.

[JTh]

But are any of those mentioned flowering in the autumn?

[John]

Yes.

[JTh]

Maybe somebody could confirm that these pthotos taken this spring in Halkidiki are of Tamarix parviflora? Sorry,  no  closeups.

[John]

I'm fairly sure it is. T. parviflora has flower part in fours whereas T. smyrnensis has flower parts in fives. I would say that T. smyrnensis is also less pink and more of a dirty colour. It is often seen as quite a large tree along the back of beaches where it is planted. Of course it will have to go through a smaller size before it becomes a tree!

[JTh]

Thank you,  John. The bushes on the photos below were quite different from the ones I see on the beach here, which people have told me are called Σμυρναίικο αλμυρίκι (which is T. smyrnensis), the colour of the flowers  of the latter are more dusty pink, but they are in bloom in the spring at the same time as T. parviflora here, I have never seen flowers in the autumn on any of them.

[Alice]

Thank you for your input, John and Bolanthus. I was leaning more towards T. smyrnensis myself. Rather difficult to count petals, as they are so tiny. I have never seen these particular trees flower in spring, although we have some others with darker pinky-purple flowers which do. I note that Marjorie Blamey and Christopher Grey-Wilson, in their book "Wild Flowers of the Mediterranean", state that "The species of Tamarix are often confused and are difficult to identify".

[Bolanthus]

Oh, I had it wrong from the beginning and though that T. africana is indigenous to Greece     That's what happens when you take for granted something you just heard once.
Yes it is more probable to be Τ. smyrnensis after all    Unless someone had in mind to plant specificaly a T. africana there and knew where to get it...

[JTh]

The only ones I've seen for sale here are T. smyrnensis (the one I tried to plant here died). I am slightly confused, all my books say that they are spring flowering, and I have never seen any flowers at other times of the year here. If they flower in the autumn, does it mean that they flower twice a year, or do they sometimes have flowers in the spring and other years in the autumn?

[Bolanthus]

Below is small a segment from Flora Europaea on Tamarix  (before describing the species one by one)
"The recemes may be vernal (produced early in the season, from the woody stems) or aestival (produced later on the growth of the current year). Recent work has shown that this distinction has not the taxonomic value which was formerly attributed to it, as the behavior of many species varies according to the climate."

Later on however, it doesn’t refer to the flowering time of T. smyrnensis. The only thing that may be informative in this book is that it says "similar to 8 (=T. ramosissima) but racemes somewhat thicker and naked at the base ...etc.", and the later species flowers  mainly in the summer according to the same authors.

well, just to give some more info (though it doesn't answer the question)!

[oron peri]

I note that Marjorie Blamey and Christopher Grey-Wilson, in their book "Wild Flowers of the Mediterranean", state that "The species of Tamarix are often confused and are difficult to identify".

It is even worse than that... Tamarix tend to hybridize easily, therefor almost impossible to tell 100%.
Down here we have 13 species + a couple more introduced for horticalture and so you can immagin the confusion...

[John]

Here's a picture of T. smyrnensis taken many years ago which is in our book "Flowers of Crete". This tree was flowering in October which is the typical time for those I have seen and it is often a multi-trunked tree.

[Alice]

This certainly looks like "my" tree, John. Multi-trunked with dirty-white flowers in October. Having said that, it occurred to me that I am never in my Mediterranean garden in Feb-March, so if it also flowered at that time I would have missed it.