Maireana triptera
(Benth.) Paul G.Wilson Three-wing BluebushGlaucous shrub to c. 50 cm high; branchlets glabrous except for axillary hair tufts. Leaves alternate, commonly lacking from older growth, subterete, 7–20 mm long, fleshy, glabrous. Flowers usually bisexual, perianth lobes ciliate, otherwise glabrous. Fruiting perianth 8–10 mm diam., wholly glabrous or margins of perianth lobes minutely ciliate, often crowded along branchlets, flat at apex, dark brown or blackish; tube hemispherical, c. 3 mm diam. at apex, with 3(–5) rounded, papery, vertical wings to c. 3 mm wide attached from base to apex and united with the flat, circular horizontal wing at the apex; radicular slit modified to a groove on upper wing, not extending down tube. Fruits mostly Oct.–Dec.
LoM, MuM, RobP, MuF. Also WA, NT, SA, Qld, NSW. Rather rare in far north-west Victoria (Mildura, Nowingi, Kulwin, Annuello), usually growing on red sandy loams of flats or dune swales.
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
