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Chenopodium curvispicatum
Species of plant From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Chenopodium curvispicatum is a species of plant in the family Amaranthaceae, endemic to Australia.[2]
It is a small Australian native shrub species of Chenopodium genus, which occurs in semi-arid and arid areas of Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.[2] It is often referred to as cottony saltbush.[3]
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Etymology and naming
The word curvispicatum is in reference to the shape of the panicles, which appear as drooping spikes.[4] Common names include cottony saltbush, and cottony goosefoot.[4] The species is often erroneously referred to in literature as Cheopodium gaudichaudianum, and also in hiberia as C. desertorum and Rghagodia spinescenus.
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Description
Chenopodium curvispicatum grows to 1m high in the form of a straggly shrub, and features slender drooping branches with dense vesicular hairs.[4] The leaves are opposite or sub-opposite, with deltoid shaping profiles and are 1 to 1.5 cm long and wide, and are covered with white rounded hairs which appear as a silverly layer.[4] The flowers are either male or bisexual with pyramidal panicles 2–5 cm long.[4] The female flowers are found below the male, and the fruit is enveloping until mature when it opens to 5mm diameter and becoming red. The fruit is a berry which contains sap, and changes from red to orange as it dries.[4]
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Taxonomy
Chenopodium curvispicatum is a member of the Caryophyllales order, within the Chenopodiaceae family.[3]
Ecology
Chenopodium curvispicatum is found in well drained calcareous limestone soils within semi-arid and sand plain woodlands.[5] Many of these areas have become degraded due to overgrazing, as well as being impacted by feral species including goats and rabbits.[6] Chenopodium family plants form key understorey components of plant communities. In these arid environments, understorey shrubs provide valuable habitat and resources for many species of herbs and grasses.[7]
A typical plant community type featuring common associations with Chenopodium curvispicatum is the Casuarina pauper/Alectryon oleifolius woodland and Eucalyptus shrublands in semi-arid areas within Nanya Station in western New South Wales.[8] These ecological communities form unique examples of intact vegetation communities rarely found in New South Wales.[8]
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Reproduction/dispersal
The seeds are rounded at 1.5mm diameter, with a honeycomb matrix and are black in colour. The seeds disperse from fruiting flowers between March and September.[9]
References
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