Maireana oppositifolia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Maireana oppositifolia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| In Fowlers Bay Conservation Park | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: | Amaranthaceae |
| Genus: | Maireana |
| Species: | M. oppositifolia |
| Binomial name | |
| Maireana oppositifolia | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
Maireana oppositifolia, commonly known as heathy bluebush[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae and is endemic to the south of continental Australia. It is compact, usually dioecious shrub with woolly branches when young, narrowly egg-shaped leaves usually arranged in opposite pairs, flowers arranged singly, and a glabrous, thin-walled fruiting perianth with a fan-shaped, prominently-veined wing.
Maireana oppositifolia is a compact, fairly dense, much-branched shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 80 cm (31 in) and has young branches densely covered with short, woolly hairs. The leaves are arranged in more or less opposite pairs, egg-shaped, mostly 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) long and broadly keeled in the lower surface and flat or concave above. The flowers are dioecious, arranged singly, the fruiting perianth glabrous, with a broadly conical to convex, thin-walled tube with five fan-shaped, prominently veined wings spreading unevenly.[2][3][4][5]
Taxonomy
This species was first formally described in 1855 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Kochia oppositifolia in his Definitions of rare or hitherto undescribed Australian plants.[6][7] In 1975, Paul Wilson transferred the species to Maireana as M. oppositifolia in the journal Nuytsia.[8] The specific epithet (oppositifolia) means 'opposite-leaved'.[9]