Maireana microphylla
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Maireana microphylla | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Near Morangarell | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: | Amaranthaceae |
| Genus: | Maireana |
| Species: | M. microphylla |
| Binomial name | |
| Maireana microphylla | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
Maireana microphylla, commonly known as cotton bush, small-leaf bluebush or eastern cottonbush,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a widely-branched shrub with slender branches, more or less terete leaves, flowers arranged singly but forming dense, leafy spikes and a tube-shaped fruiting perianth with a simple wing with a notched edge.
Maireana microphylla is a weakly upright shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) and has slender branches that are sometimes covered with hairs pressed against the surface. The leaves are arranged alternately, subterete, mostly 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 in) long. The flowers are arranged singly but form densely dense, leafy spikes, the fruiting perianth glabrous with a shallowly hemispherical tube 1.5–2 mm (0.059–0.079 in) high in diameter and sometimes with a wing about 7 mm (0.28 in) in diameter with a radial slit and a notched edge.[2][3][4][5]
Taxonomy
This species was first formally described in 1849 by Alfred Moquin-Tandon who gave it the name Enchylaena microphylla in de Candolle's Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis.[6][7] In 1975, Paul Wilson transferred the species to Maireana as M. microphylla in the journal Nuytsia.[8] The specific epithet (microphylla) means 'small-leaved'.[9]