Atriplex vesicaria facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Bladder saltbush |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Atriplex
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| Species: |
vesicaria
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Atriplex vesicaria, commonly known as bladder saltbush, is a species of saltbush endemic to Australia.
Description
It grows as an erect or sprawling shrub up to a metre high. Leaves are oval in shape, five to 25 millimetres long, and 3 to 15 millimetres wide.
Taxonomy
The species was first published by George Bentham in 1870, based on a name selected by Robert Heward. The species' only synonym is Pachypharynx neglecta, published by Paul Aellen in 1938.
It is a highly variable species. The Flora of Australia treatment of this species recognises eight subspecies:
- A. vesicaria subsp. vesicaria
- A. vesicaria subsp. appendiculata
- A. vesicaria subsp. variabilis
- A. vesicaria subsp. calcicola
- A. vesicaria subsp. minor
- A. vesicaria subsp. incompta
- A. vesicaria subsp. macrocystidia
- A. vesicaria subsp. sphaerocarpa. Not all of these are accepted in South Australia, where the subspecies tend to intergrade.
Distribution and habitat
It occurs in arid and semi-arid areas across southern Australia, growing in coastal dunes, salt pans, salt lakes, sandy plains and limestone ridges.
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Atriplex vesicaria Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.