Family: Amaranthaceae
Maireana sedifolia
Citation:
Paul G. Wilson, Nuytsia 2:36 (1975).
Synonymy: Kochia sedifolia F. Muell., J. Trans. Vict. Inst. 1:134 (1855).
Common name: Bluebush, pearl (or hoary) bluebush, hoary saltbush.
Description:
Compact divaricately branched shrub c. 1 m high, covered with a close bluish-grey woolly tomentum, dioecious; leaves alternate, fleshy, narrowly obovoid, 4-8 mm long, rounded at the apex and slightly narrowed at the base.
Flowers in pairs but usually only one maturing, closely woolly, the male hemispherical and the female globular.
Fruiting perianth straw-coloured or pale-brown when dry; tube hemispherical to turbinate, c. 2 mm high and 2-3 mm wide at the apex, firm but thin-walled except for the thick base, sparsely woolly; wing simple, horizontal, papery, c. 10 mm diam., glabrous, with line radial venation and a single radial slit; upper perianth more or less flat, closely woolly; style short, thick and woolly.
| Maireana sedifolia
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Image source: pl. 10 in Jessop J.P. & Toelken H.R. (Ed.) 1986. Flora of South Australia (4th edn).
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| Maireana sedifolia fruit
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Image source: fig 160l in Jessop J.P. & Toelken H.R. (Ed.) 1986. Flora of South Australia (4th edn).
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Published illustration:
Rotherham (1975) Flowers and plants of New South Wales and southern Queensland, fig. 456; Cunningham et al. (1982) Plants of western New South Wales, p. 274.
Distribution:
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Often occurring on calcareous soil.
S.Aust.: NW, LE, NU, GT, FR, EA, EP, NL, MU, YP. W.Aust.; N.T.; Vic.
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Conservation status:
native
Flowering time: Flowers and/or fruits: in all months.
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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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