Sclerolaena diacantha
(Nees) Benth.Prostrate herb with woody rootstock to weakly erect subshrub, to c. 20 cm high, branches densely short-woolly. Leaves linear, 10–20 mm long, moderately to densely covered with short appressed or semi-appressed hairs. Tube of fruiting perianth c. 2.5 mm long and wide or slightly narrower, densely tomentose, attached obliquely, attachment elliptic, deeply hollowed with thin radial septa within; limb not or barely exserted above spine-bases; spines 2, divergent, 1.5–5 mm long, pubescent below, one with a short blunt tubercle at its base, rarely a short third spine developed adjacent to the other. Fruits most of year.
LoM, MuM, Wim, VVP, VRiv, MSB, RobP, MuF, GipP, Gold, CVU, NIS. Also WA, NT, SA, Qld, NSW. Locally common in north-western Victoria where occurring chiefly on heavier, sometimes subsaline, sandy loams. Disjunct occurrences are known from the Bendigo Whipstick area, near Avoca and Bacchus Marsh-Melton areas west of Melbourne.
There appear to be at least two more or less distinct forms of the species in Victoria, one a prostrate herb with slender leaves and thick, woody rootstock, and the other a low shrub with thick, closely tomentose, stems and leaves. The latter form appears to intergrade with Sclerolaena uniflora in the far north-west of Victoria.
Walsh, N.G. (1996). Chenopodiaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 129–199. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning
