Family: Amaranthaceae
Maireana aphylla
Citation:
Paul G. Wilson, Nuytsia 2:54 (1975).
Synonymy: Kochia aphylla R. Br., Prod. Fl. Nov. Holl. 409 (1810); Salsola aphylla (R. Br.) Sprengel, Syst. Veg. 1:925 (1824); K. villosa Lindley var. aphylla (R. Br.)Maiden & Betche, Census N.S.W. Pl. 70 (1916).
Common name: Cotton-bush, leafless bluebush.
Description:
Divaricately branched shrub 0.5-2 m high, predominantly dioecious; branchlets striate, almost glabrous to somewhat woolly, often spinescent; leaves small, alternate, slender and subterete, 1-4 rarely to 8 mm long, sparsely to densely woolly, very shortly spurred at the base, frequently caducous.
Flowers solitary, occasionally minutely bibracteolate.
Fruiting perianth straw-coloured when dry, glabrous except for the sparsely woolly upper perianth; base small, sometimes swollen or produced into a very short hollow stipe; tube hemispherical to turbinate, 1-2 mm high; wing simple, horizontal, c. 8 mm diam., papery, faintly to prominently veined, with a single radial slit; upper perianth thick, forming a circular convex disc open in the centre, sparsely woolly.
| Maireana aphylla fruits
|
Image source: fig. 159a in Jessop J.P. & Toelken H.R. (Ed.) 1986. Flora of South Australia (4th edn).
|
Published illustration:
Cunningham et al. (1982) Plants of western New South Wales, p. 265.
Distribution:
|
Usually found in clay soil in seasonally waterlogged situations.
S.Aust.: NW, LE, GT, FR, EA, EP, NL, MU, YP, SL. W.Aust.; N.T.; Qld; N.S.W.; Vic.
|
Conservation status:
native
Flowering time: Flowers and/or fruits: mainly June — Sept. in the north and Jan. — July in the south.
|
SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia
|
Biology:
No text
Author:
Not yet available
|