Maireana


Maireana is a genus of around 58 species of flowering plants commonly known as bluebushes, in the family Amaranthaceae that are endemic to Australia. Plants in the genus Maireana are herbaceous to woody perennial plants or small shrubs with often fleshy or succulent leaves, sessile flowers with five petals and five stamens, and the fruit is a utricle containing a single seed.

Description

Plants in the genus Maireana are herbaceous to woody perennials or small shrubs that are glabrous or sometimes covered with woolly hairs. The leaves are globe-shaped to terete or narrowly oblong, often fleshy or succulent. The flowers are sessile, arranged singly or in pairs in leaf axils and are dioecious or hermaphrodite with five petals and five stamens opposite the petals. The ovary is more or less spherical with a short style and two or three linear stigmas. The perianth of the fruit has a wing, sometimes divided into separate leathery wings, at the base lobes that more or less obscure the utricle. The utricle is disc-like, top-shaped or spherical and contains a single seed.

Taxonomy

The genus Maireana was first formally described in 1840 by the botanist, Moquin-Tandon and named to honour Joseph François Maire, an amateur botanist who befriended him during the author's first visit to Paris in 1834. The type species is Maireana tomentosa.

Distribution

Species of Maireana, known as bluebushes, are found in all mainland states of Australia.

Species list

The following species of Maireana are accepted by the Australian Plant Census as at April 2025: