Family: Santalaceae
Exocarpos sparteus
Citation:
R. Br., Prod. Fl. Nov. Holl. 356 (1810).
Synonymy: Xylophyllos sparteus (R. Br.)Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 589 (1891); E. glandulaceus Miq. in Lehm., Pl. Preiss. 1:619 (1845).
, Exocarpos spartea, Exocarpus spartea, Exocarpus sparteus Common name: Broom ballart, cherry bush, slender cherry.
Description:
Broom-like shrub 2-6 m high, with angular slightly furrowed slender olive or grey-green branches and pendulous or erect branchlets, glabrous except in leaf axils; leaves soon caducous, reduced to linear-lanceolate 1.5-7 mm long scales with erect or spreading tips.
Flowers sessile, in pedunculate spikes (4-18 mm long, including the stiff peduncle of 0.7-6 mm), sometimes 2 or 3 spikes in an axil, usually only 1 in each spike fertile; rhachis pubescent; perianth 4-6-sect, yellow or golden-brown, 0.7-1 mm long, somewhat papillose on the margins.
Fruit ovoid to globular, glabrous, 3.5-5 mm long, shiny, orange to red-brown or almost black; fruiting pedicel very succulent, cylindrical to ovoid, 3-5 mm diam., slightly broader than the fruit when fresh, usually broader than long, green becoming red.
Published illustration:
Costermans (1981) Native trees and shrubs of south-eastern Australia, p. 169.
Distribution:
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S.Aust.: NW, LE, FR, EP, NL, MU, YP, SL, SE. W.Aust.; N.T.; Qld; N.S.W.; Vic.
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Conservation status:
native
Flowering time: throughout the year, but mainly spring and autumn.
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SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia
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Biology:
No text
Author:
Not yet available
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