Maireana brevifolia
(R.Br.) Paul G.Wilson Short-leaf BluebushErect or rounded shrub to c. 1.3 m high; branches striate, sparsely woolly. Leaves alternate, obovoid to linear, 2–5 mm long, fleshy, glabrous. Flowers bisexual, ciliate on perianth lobes, otherwise glabrous. Fruiting perianth 6–9 mm diam., flat at apex; tube c. 2 mm diam., thin-walled, hemispherical and weakly 10-ribbed below wings; wings 5, spreading, fan-shaped, papery, dark-veined; perianth lobes domed, spongy, prominent at base of wings; radicular slit not apparent. Fruits mainly Feb.–May.
LoM, MuM, Wim, VVP, VRiv, MSB, RobP, MuF, GipP, OtP, Gold, CVU, NIS. Also WA, NT, SA, Qld, NSW. Not uncommon in heavy, seasonally wet and sometimes saline soils of the north-west, with outlying occurrences in the Bendigo Whipstick and Bacchus Marsh-Geelong areas to the south. Often colonizing disturbed sites within its range.
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
