Maireana erioclada
Maireana erioclada, commonly known as rosy bluebush or fleshy bluebush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae and is endemic to southern continental Australia. It is a bushy, spreading, glaucous shrub with hairy branches, fleshy, club-shaped to narrowly egg-shaped leaves, bisexual flowers arranged singly, and a glabrous fruiting perianth with a narrowly funnel-shaped tube with horizontal wings.
Description
Maireana erioclada is a perennial, bushy, glaucous shrub that typically grows to a height of up to. Its leaves are narrowly oval with the narrower end towards the base to club-shaped, up to long, glabrous and with a rounded end. The flowers are bisexual, and arranged singly in leaf axils. The fruiting perianth is bright red or pink, maturing to dull brown, with a narrowly funnel-shaped tube with 5 vertical wings fused to a horizontal wing, in diameter. The fruiting perianths appear between August and November.Taxonomy
This species was first formally described in 1870 by English botanist George Bentham who gave it the name Kochia triptera var. erioclada in his Flora Australiensis. Bentham's description was based on two collections: one from Western Australia, chosen in 1848 by Erwin Gauba in 1948 as the lectotype and one collected in the "Murray desert" by Ferdinand von Mueller.In 1975, Paul Wilson raised the variety to species status as Maireana erioclada in the journal Nuytsia.
This species is similar to Maireana pentatropis, but has five wings joined to the tube throughout its length, but some specimens suggest possibly hybridisation between the two species