Maireana brevifolia
Species of plant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maireana brevifolia, commonly known as small-leaf bluebush, eastern cotton bush or short-leaf bluebush[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae and is endemic to Australia, and naturalised in other countries. It is a bushy, erect or rounded shrub or short-lived perennial plant with scattered, fleshy egg-shaped to spindle-shaped leaves, bisexual flowers arranged singly, and a thick and fleshy fruiting perianth with fan-shaped wings.
| Maireana brevifolia | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: | Amaranthaceae |
| Genus: | Maireana |
| Species: | M. brevifolia |
| Binomial name | |
| Maireana brevifolia | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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Description
Maireana brevifolia is a bushy, erect or rounded shrub or short-lived perennial plant that grows to a height of 0.2–1 m (7.9 in – 3 ft 3.4 in) and has thin branches, sparsely covered with woolly hairs. Its leaves are egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base to slender spindle-shaped, 2–5 mm (0.079–0.197 in) long, fleshy and glabrous. The flowers are bisexual and arranged singly and mostly glabrous. The fruiting perianth is glabrous, thin-walled and hemispherical, about 2 mm (0.079 in) in diameter with a faintly ten-ribbed tube and five papery, fan-shaped wings up to 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) long.[2][3][4][5][6]
Taxonomy
This species was first described in 1810 by Robert Brown who gave it the name Kochia brevifolia in his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae.[7][8] In 1975, Paul G. Wilson transferred the species to Maireana as M. brevifolia in the journal Nuytsia.[3][9] The specific epithet (brevifolia) means 'short-leaved'.[10]
Distribution and habitat
Maireana brevifolia grows in heavy, winter-wet and sometimes saline soils in the south-west of Western Australia,[11] the banks of the upper Finke River in the south of the Northern Territory,[6] the south-east of South Australia,[12] Queensland,[2] inland New South Wales[4] and Victoria.[5] It is one of the first species to appear in disturbed saline habitats.[2][11]
Cotton bush is also naturalised in South Africa, the Middle East and the Canary Islands.[13]