Burrs. Photo: Chris Lindorff, Ned's Corner Station Reserve, Lake Culluleraine, Vic

Burrs on stem. Photo: Russell Best, Evans Street Wildflower Reserve, Sunbury, near Melbourne, Vic

Burrs on stems. Photo: Russell Best, Evans Street Wildflower Reserve, Sunbury, near Melbourne, Vic

Shrub .Photo: Russell Best, near Melbourne, Vic

Common Name

Grey Rolypoly, Black Rolypoly, Five-spine Bindyi

Family

Chenopodiaceae

Notes

Shrub or annual or perennial forb to 1.5m tall.  Leaves 0.5-2.5cm long, narrow and flat, hairy, with smooth edges and a straight point.  Flowers tiny (less than 3mm across), solitary at the bases of the leaves. Burrs woolly to sparsely woolly, with 3 longer spines plus one or two shorter spines.  Rare SA.

Differs from Sclerolaena muricata var. muricata in that the plant is hairy, and from Sclerolaena muricata var. semiglabra in that the leaves are somewhat narrower and the fruiting bodies are woolly when mature. 

Description (as Bassia quinquecuspis var. villosa) 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