Common Name

Hairy Bluebush, Slender Fissure-weed, Slender Bluebush

Family

Chenopodiaceae

Notes

Perennial forb with a woody base, prostrate or to 20cm tall.  Leaves alternating up the stems, 0.7-2cm long, linear, hairy, becoming hairless with age, with a straight point.  Flowers tiny (less than 3mm across), solitary at the bases of the leaves.  Fruiting body very hairy, with a central raised pentagonal area surrounded at its base by a narrow wing which is sometimes divided into 5 lobes.  Rare SA.

Description and photo (page 272) and line drawing of fruiting body (Fig. 47-22 page 271) in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales

PlantNET description with line drawings:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Maireana~pentagona