Sclerolaena tricuspis
(F.Muell.) Ulbr. Three-spined BassiaStraggling shrub to c. 80 cm high, branches weakly ribbed, often streaked red, glabrous except for axillary hair-tufts. Leaves terete, flattened toward base, 5–15 mm long, grey-green, sparsely cottony at base, otherwise glabrous. Fruiting perianth glabrous, often arising at or near right-angles from stem which may be gently flexed at the point of attachment; tube 2–3 mm long, expanded at base, centrally or slightly obliquely attached, often appearing immersed in stem, attachment almost flat but not readily breaking free from stem; limb conical, exserted to c. 1 mm beyond spine-bases; spines 3, straw-coloured, nearly equally radiating from apex of tube, 6–15 mm long. Fruits mainly Aug.–Oct.
LoM, MuM, Wim, VRiv, MSB, RobP, MuF. Also SA, Qld, NSW. Occasional on heavy, seasonally wet silty soils and clays from the vicinity of Boundary Bend to the north-western extremity of Victoria. Commonly associated with Black Box-Lignum (Eucalyptus largiflorens-Duma florulenta) communities.
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.