Citation: Paul G. Wilson, Nuytsia 2:38 (1975).

Synonymy: Kochia triptera Benth., Fl. Aust. 5:185 (1870).

Common name: Three-wing bluebush.

Description:
Compact bluish-green shrub to 50 cm high, glabrous except for pubescence in the leaf axils; leaves alternate, dense, slender and subterete, acute, c. 10 mm long.

Flowers solitary, usually bisexual.

Fruiting perianth glabrous, glossy, dark-brown to black when dry, frequently congested along the branches; tube turbinate, crustaceous, hard and solid in the lower half; wings papery, in two series; vertical wings 5 (or with 1 or 2 undeveloped), alternate to the perianth lobes, running the length of the tube and fusing with the horizontal wing; horizontal wing at the apex of the tube, flat, entire, c. 8 mm diam., without a radial slit but sulcate opposite the radicle; upper perianth flat.

	Maireana triptera fruit
Image source: fig. 160q 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. 275.

Distribution:  Found in heavy slightly saline soil. S.Aust.: NW, LE, GT, FR, EA, EP, MU.   W.Aust.; N.T.; Qld; N.S.W.; Vic. Conservation status: native Flowering time: Flowers and/ or fruits: May — Sept.

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