Advances and Prospects in Research on the Typical Psammophyte Artemisia halodendron
The perennial chenopod sub-shrub Artemisia halodendron Turcz. ex Bess. is endemic to the semiarid semi-fixed and mobile dunes in Inner Mongolia of northern China. As a clonal plant, A. halodendron possesses a number of biological characteristics such as aeolian erosion resisting, shifting sand burying resisting, high temperature and infertility tolerating and thus is a fine sand-fixing pioneer plant for improving microhabitat conditions and promoting restorative succession of psammophytic vegetation in degraded dune ecosystems. In this paper, the authors make an overall review of advances and prospects in research of the shrub A. halodendron from a multi-side prospective as well as put forward some new scientific problems to be further studied.