Maireana decalvans
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Maireana decalvans | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Near Iredale | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: | Amaranthaceae |
| Genus: | Maireana |
| Species: | M. decalvans |
| Binomial name | |
| Maireana decalvans | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
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Maireana decalvans, commonly known as black cottonbush,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is a erect to spreading perennial plant with fleshy, terete to narrowly spindle-shaped leaves, glabrous, bisexual flowers arranged singly, and a hairy fruiting perianth with a hemispherical tube and a thin-walled wing.
Maireana decalvans is an erect to spreading, bushy perennial that typically grows to a height of up to 50 cm (20 in) and thin branches. Its leaves are arranged alternately, circular in cross section to narrowly spindle-shaped, 5–8 mm (0.20–0.31 in) long, glabrous and fleshy. The flowers are bisexual, glabrous and arranged singly in leaf axils, the fruiting perianth with a thin-walled tube about 3 mm (0.12 in) in diameter and a thin wing about 8 mm (0.31 in) in diameter with a single radial slit.[2][3][4][5][6]
Taxonomy
This species was first formally described in 1919 by Michel Gandoger who gave it the name Enchylaena decalvans in the Bulletin de la Société Botanique de France from specimens collected in the Wimmera district.[7][8] In 1975, Paul G. Wilson transferred the species to Maireana as M. decalvans in the journal Nuytsia.[3][9] The specific epithet (decalvans) means 'becoming bald', referring to the stems.[10]
