Glinus lotoides
L. Hairy Carpet-weedProstrate or procumbent annual with stems to c. 50 cm long, often greyish from the soft stellate indumentum. Leaves opposite, alternate or clustered, shortly petiolate, elliptic to broadly obovate, 8–25 mm long, 6–20 mm wide, upper surface sometimes glabrescent. Flowers in leaf-opposed clusters of up to c. 10. Perianth segments ovate, c. 7 mm long, pubescent on outer face, glabrous and yellowish within; stamens c. 8–20, often surrounded by a series of narrow, bifid stami-nodes; styles 5. Capsule 5-locular, narrowly ovoid, slightly shorter than perianth segments. Seeds c. reniform, c. 0.7 mm long, red-brown and tuberculate in rows; caruncle inflated and bladder-like. Flowers mainly Jan.–May.
LoM, MuM, Wim, VRiv, MSB, RobP, MuF, CVU, NIS. All mainland States. Also native to Africa, warmer countries of Europe, and Asia. Occasional on drying lake-beds, billabongs and river flats in the north-west (e.g. Kerang, Hattah, Mildura) with a few scattered records elsewhere (e.g. Strathmerton, Lake Mokoan near Benalla, Lake Cope Cope, Warracknabeal areas).
Walsh, N.G. (1996). Molluginaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 225–228. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning
