Young burrs and leaves. Photo: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Plant. Photo: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Common Name

Black Rolypoly, Dark Rolypoly

Family

Chenopodiaceae

Notes

Shrub or annual or perennial forb to 1.5m tall.  Leaves 0.5-1cm long, flat, hairy, with smooth edges and a straight point.  Flowers tiny (less than 3mm across), solitary at the bases of the leaves. Burrs somewhat woolly when young, with 3 longer spines plus one or two shorter spines.  Poorly known Vic.

Differs from Sclerolaena muricata var. muricata in that the plant is hairy, and from Sclerolaena muricata var. villosa in that the leaves are somewhat wider and the fruiting bodies are woolly only when immature.  

Description (as Bassia quinquecuspis var. semiglabra) in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales page 256

PlantNET description:   http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Sclerolaena~muricata