Maireana aphylla
{{short description|Species of plant}}
{{Speciesbox
|name = Cotton bush
|image = Maireana aphylla fruit.jpg
|image_caption = Fruit of Maireana aphylla
|genus = Maireana
|species = aphylla
|authority = (R.Br.) Paul G.Wilson{{cite web |title=Maireana aphylla |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/101130|publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=22 April 2025}}
|synonyms =
- Kochia aphylla R.Br.
- Kochia villosa var. aphylla (R.Br.) C.Moore
- Salsola aphylla (R.Br.) Spreng.
- Kochia brownii auct. non F.Muell. 1859
|range_map = MaireanaaphyllaDistributionMap.png
|range_map_caption = Occurrence data from AVH
}}
File:Maireana aphylla habit.jpg
File:Maireana aphylla stems.jpg
Maireana aphylla, commonly known as cotton bush or leafless bluebush,{{cite web |last1=Wilson |first1=Paul G. |title=Maireana aphylla |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Maireana%20aphylla |publisher=Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. |access-date=22 April 2025}} is a species of flowering plant in the family Chenopodiaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is a widely branched, mostly dioecious shrub with small, woolly leaves, flowers arranged singly, and a fruiting perianth with a small tube and horizontal wings.
Description
Maireana aphylla is a widely branched shrub that typically grows to {{cvt|0.5–2|m}} high and about {{cvt|1|m}} wide. Its branchlets are sometimes covered with woolly hairs and are often spiny. The leaves are arranged alternately, more or less terete, fleshy, {{cvt|1–8|mm}} long, usually covered with woolly hair, and often fall off as they mature. The flowers are mostly dioecious and arranged singly, sometimes with tiny bracteoles at the base. Male flowers are bell-shaped, about {{cvt|1.5|mm}} high and slightly woolly. Female flowers are more or less spherical, about {{cvt|1|mm}} high with a prominent radiating bulge, a glabrous ovary and two stigmas. The fruiting perianth is straw-coloured, mostly glabrous with a hemispherial to top-shaped tube {{cvt|1–2|mm}} high with a prominent bulge and a horizontal wing about {{cvt|8|mm}} in diameter. Flowering mostly occurs from December to April, and the fruit is a hemispherical utricle.{{cite journal |last1=Wilson |first1=Paul G. |title=A Taxonomic Revision of the genus Maireana (Chenopodiaceae). |journal=Nuytsia |date=1975 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=54–55 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53253933#page/60/mode/1up |access-date=22 April 2025}}{{cite web |title=Maireana aphylla |url=https://eflora.nt.gov.au/factsheet?id=1199 |publisher=Northern Territory Government |access-date=22 April 2025}}{{cite web |last1=Jacobs |first1=Surrey Wilfrid Laurance |title=Maireana aphylla |url=https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Maireana~aphylla |publisher=Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney |access-date=22 April 2025}}{{cite web |last1=Walsh |first1=Neville G. |last2=Stajsic |first2=Val |title=Maireana aphylla |url=https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/3b07ad79-fe4a-4f10-a87c-c13d900d316d |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria |access-date=22 April 2025}}{{cite web |title=Maireana aphylla |url=https://spapps.environment.sa.gov.au/SeedsOfSA/speciesinformation.html?rid=2783 |publisher=Seeds of South Australia |access-date=22 April 2025}}
Taxonomy
This species was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown who gave it the name Kochia aphylla in his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae.{{cite web |title=Kochia aphylla |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/518291 |publisher=Australian Plant Name Index |access-date=22 April 2025}}{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Robert |title=Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae |date=1810 |publisher=Typis R. Taylor et socii |location=London |page=409 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/21871#page/277/mode/1up |access-date=22 April 2025}} In 1975, Paul Graham Wilson transferred the species to Maireana as M. aphylla in the journal Nuytsia.{{cite web |title=Maireana aphylla |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/528550 |publisher=Australian Plant Name Index |access-date=22 April 2025}} The specific epithet (aphylla) means 'without leaves'.{{cite book |last1=George |first1=Alex |last2=Sharr |first2=Francis |title=Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings |date=2021 |publisher=Four Gables Press |location=Kardinya, WA |isbn=9780958034180 |page=135 |edition=3rd}}
Distribution and habitat
Cotton bush occurs in all mainland states and territories apart from the Australian Capital Territory. It grows in seasonally inundated clay soils west of the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales, in southern Queensland, the southern half of the Northern Territory and in the Carnarvon-Wiluna area of Western Australia.{{FloraBase|name=Maireana aphylla |id=2534}}
References
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Category:Flora of New South Wales
Category:Flora of the Northern Territory
Category:Flora of South Australia
Category:Flora of Victoria (state)
Category:Flora of Western Australia
Category:Caryophyllales of Australia