Tecticornia halocnemoides subsp. halocnemoides
Usually a compact, sometimes cushioning shrub to c. 30 cm high, rarely erect, to c. 1 m high. Articles of ultimate branchlets obovoid, mostly 2–5 mm long; lobes obtuse, margins entire. Spikes terminal (or growth continuing through and beyond spike in some inland forms), to c. 3 cm long; opposite bracts united; flowers free, exposed at apex; perianth rounded or truncate at apex. Fruiting perianth soft to firm, free from bracts; pericarp thin, fused to perianth; seed ovate to circular, 1–1.5 mm long, readily released from perianth at maturity, testa crustaceous, reddish-brown, tuberculate or minutely papillose lose in several rows on dorsal ridge, indistinctly granular on sides. Flowers mainly May–Aug.
LoM, MuM, Wim, VVP, VRiv, MSB, OtP, Gold. Also WA, SA. Locally common fringing salt lakes or pans in north-western Victoria (e.g. Raak Plain, Pink Lakes, Lake Tyrell etc.), and in saltmarsh on the western shore of Port Phillip Bay, uncommon in non-coastal areas further south (e.g. near Natimuk, Centre Lake near Douglas).
A polymorphic subspecies, varying in habit, length of articles and fruiting spikes, and in the size and ornamentation of the seed. Coastal plants are generally coarser and have larger seeds than those from inland sites.
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