Mealy Saltbush

Images ©:
©Photo: (CC BY 2.5 AU) Russell Best via natureshare.org.au, Photo: (CC BY 2.5 AU) Russell Best via natureshare.org.au

Atriplex pseudocampanulata

Upright shrub to 30 cm high. Elliptic stemless leaves to 20 mm long alternating along branch, with irregular shallowly-toothed margins. Male flowers at branch tips and female flowers at the junctions of leaf and stem, in clusters. Two small shallowly toothed semi-circular leaf-like structures (bracteoles) are found below the female flowers and they enlarge and cover the fruit at maturity. Male and female structures separate on same plant.

Details
Flora Type
Chenopods
Other Common Names
Fan Saltbush
Distinctive Features

Leaves powdery grey on both top and bottom from hairs on leaves. They are characteristically stalkless.
Biology

Annual or short-lived perennial. Widespread and common in the drier parts of the mainland States on heavier soils fringing lakes and rivers, introduced other places where transported by livestock. Common in degraded, salty country.
Native Status
Native
Flowering Time

Fruits Sep-May
Taxonomy
Phylum
Tracheophyta (Vascular Plants)
Class
Magnoliopsida (Flowering Plants)
Order
Caryophyllales
Family
Chenopodiaceae
Genus
Atriplex
Species
pseudocampanulata

Source: Atlas of Living Australia

Considered invasive in some other countries. Seeds and possibly leaves of some species were used as food by Aboriginal people.

Interesting Facts
Similar Species

Distinction between this species and Atriplex angulata and Atriplex earlleyae not clear.
Native Status
Native