Scleroblitum atriplicinum
(F.Muell.) Ulbr. Starry GoosefootPlants sparsely mealy, stems to c. 50 (but mostly less than c. 15) cm long. Leaves at base with petioles c. equal to lamina, upper leaves smaller and subsessile; lamina narrowly rhombic to narrowly elliptic, often somewhat hastate, 1–8 cm long, 1–25 mm wide. Flowers shortly pedicellate, tepals erect, ovate, acute, c. 1.5 mm long at anthesis; fruiting perianth with tepals to c. 3 mm long, spreading near base and exposing the seed, then strongly flexed, erect and overlapping above. Utricle lenticular, c. 1.5 mm diam., outer wall tuberculate or ridged, falling enclosed by fruiting perianth. Flowers mostly Aug.–Nov.
LoM, MuM, Wim, VRiv, MSB, RobP, MuF, Gold. Also SA, Qld, NSW. In Victoria confined to the north-west and rather uncommon, occurring on heavy alluvial soils and clays of seasonally wet areas (lake beds and margins, dune swales etc.). Early records (e.g. from Nhill, St Arnaud, Borung) indicate the species was probably formerly more widespread to the south than modern collections suggest.
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
