The saxaul ranges in size from a large shrub to a small tree, 2–8 metres (6+1⁄2–26 feet), rarely 12 m (39 ft) tall.

The saxaul is distributed in the lowlands of Central Asia – including southern Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, western Uzbekistan,[5] Iran, west Afghanistan, Mongolia and China, namely Xinjiang and Gansu.

[5] It is a psammophyte, and grows in sandy deserts, on sand dunes, and in steppe up to 1,600 m (5,200 ft) above sea level.

[4] A parasitic plant, Cistanche deserticola, that grows on the roots of the saxaul is prized in Chinese medicine as the 'ginseng of the desert'.

Being highly drought-resistant, it has played an important role in the establishment of shelter belts and the fixation of sand dunes as a counter to desertification.

When the Russian Imperial Navy brought the first steamships into the land-locked Aral Sea, the local Governor-General Vasily Perovsky ordered the commander of Fort Aralsk to collect "as large as possible supply" of saxaul wood (Anabasis saxaul, in the source) for use by the new steamships on their maiden navigation of 1851.

Therefore, starting from 1852, the Aral Flotilla switched to coal as its main fuel, despite the remarkable costs of shipping it by caravan from Orenburg.