Maireana aphylla
(R.Br.) Paul G.Wilson Leafless BluebushDivaricately branched, usually stiffly spinescent shrub to c. 1 m high and 1 m diam., usually dioecious; branchlets grooved, lightly pubescent, sometimes the hairs confined to the grooves. Leaves alternate, linear, subterete, c. 2–4 mm long, shortly spurred at base, pubescent to subglabrous, sparse and often confined to young flowering branches. Flowers pubescent above, glabrous toward base. Fruiting perianth c. 7–8 mm diam., glabrous or pubescent at summit, apex flat with a thickened circular disc, the utricle apparent within and below the level of the disc; tube hemispherical, hard, rather prominently 10-ridged, c. 3 mm diam.; wing undulate or pleated, papery, faintly to prominently veined; radicular slit apparent on wing, not extending down tube. Fruits Dec.–Apr.
LoM, MuM, Wim, VVP, VRiv, MSB, RobP, MuF, CVU. All mainland states. Rare and scattered in Victoria, occurring on heavy cracking clays and alluvium often in flood-prone sites. Recorded from Mildura, Boundary Bend, Kerang and Katamatite districts in the north, Lara near Geelong and near Bacchus Marsh in the south. Old records exist from Dimboola, but now possibly extinct.
Walsh, N.G. (1996). Chenopodiaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 129–199. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning
