Maireana ovata
Maireana ovata is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae and is endemic to central Australia. It is a small, densely branched shrub with densely woolly branches, narrowly egg-shaped to broadly triangular leaves, bisexual flowers and a fruiting perianth with a translucent wing.
Description
Maireana ovata is a densely branched shrub that typically grows to a height of up to and has densely woolly branches. The leaves are arranged alternately, narrowly egg-shaped to broadly triangular, mostly long and loosely covered with woolly hairs. The flowers are bisexual, the fruiting perianth small and pale yellow when dry, with a hemispherical tube high and in diameter. The wing is translucent, in diameter.
Taxonomy
This species was first formally described in 1955 by Ernest Horace Ising, who gave it the name Kochia ovata in the Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia from specimens he collected at Evelyn Downs, south-east of Oodnadatta in 1952. In 1975, Paul G. Wilson transferred the species to Maireana as M. ovata in the journal Nuytsia. The specific epithet means 'ovate'.
Distribution and habitat
Maireana ovata is found in central Australia where it grows on sandy rises and the eroded slopes of stony hills in the south of the Northern Territory, central South Australia and the Western Plains of New South Wales.
Conservation status
Maireana ovata is listed as "near threatened" under the Northern Territory Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act.