Family: Amaranthaceae
Atriplex sturtii
Citation:
S. Jacobs, Telopea 2:453 (1983).
Synonymy: A. leptocarpa F. Muell. forma minor R. Anderson, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. W. 55:499 (1930); A. leptocarpa F. Muell. var. minor (R. Anderson)J. Black, Fl. S. Aust. 299 (1948).
Common name: None
Description:
Spreading annual or short-lived perennial to 30 cm high, monoecious; branches slender; leaves thin, obovate, sinuate-dentate, scaly on both surfaces, apex rounded, base cuneate; lamina 10-20 mm long; petiole slender.
Male flowers in distal axils, perianth glabrescent; female flowers numerous in scattered glomerules.
Fruiting bracteoles when immature oblong and shortly pedicellate, the pedicel eventually becoming spongy; when mature narrow-cylindrical, 3-5 mm long, of 2 distinct portions, the lower third to half a cylindrical firm spongy straw-coloured stipe, the upper portion a somewhat compressed green to straw-coloured thin-walled longitudinally nerved tube, obtuse; seed obovate, radicle lateral and slightly exserted.
| Atriplex sturtii. Fruit
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Image source: fig. 151o in Jessop J.P. & Toelken H.R. (Ed.) 1986. Flora of South Australia (4th edn).
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Distribution:
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Found in central Australia from south-east N.T. to far north-west N.S.W., principally in white sand.
N.T.; Qld; N.S.W.
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Conservation status:
native
Flowering time: Dec. — April.
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SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia
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Biology:
Atriplex sturtii appears to grade into A. turbinata and A. leptocarpa.
Taxonomic notes:
This species differs from Atriplex leptocarpa in leaf shape and in the morphology of the fruiting bracteoles; in A. sturtii the basal portion is eventually spongy and the tube thin-walled while in A. leptocarpa the basal portion is hard and the tube woody.
Author:
Not yet available
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