Frankenia serpyllifolia
Bristly Sea-heathLow, densely branched sprawling to erect shrub; branches sparsely to densely covered in spreading to uncinate hairs c. 0.1–0.5 or more (longer on plants with glabrous leaves), or rarely glabrous; internodes 5–32 mm long. Leaves on long-shoot 3–13 mm long; petiole 0.4–2.7 mm long, tapered distally where 0.3–0.8(–1.2) mm wide, ciliate; leaf-blade elliptic, oblong, obovate or ovate, 1–8 mm wide, coriaceous; flat or with margins loosely to tightly revolute; midrib inconspicuous or prominent, linear to flat; surfaces greyish yellow-green, glabrous to densely covered in spreading to uncinate hairs; short-shoot leaves similar. Flowers 1–19 in terminal or axillary dichasia, or solitary. Calyx 5-lobed, 4–10 mm long, 1–2 mm wide, glabrous to densely hairy; petals (4–)5, 6–15 mm long; stamens 6; style-branches 2 or 3; ovules usually 2 or 3. Flowers most of year.
LoM, MuM, Wim, MSB, RobP, OtP, OtR. Also NT, SA, Qld, NSW. Restricted to salt lake verges in the north-west, north of Dimboola area.
A variable species, particularly in regard to hairiness and the marginal curvature of leaves. Two major variants can be distinguished: one with glabrous leaves and usually longer but dense stem-hairs (= Frankeniasp. aff. gracilissensu Willis 1973), the other with densely hairy leaves and generally shorter stem-hairs (=F. angustipetala). Whalen (1986) considered such variants to be insufficiently distinct over the range of the species and not warranting taxonomic recognition. The glabrous-leaved variant can be difficult to distinguish from F. pauciflora but the stem-hairs are longer (c. 0.5 mm or more) in F. serpyllifolia.
Entwisle, T.J. (1996). Frankeniaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 372–376. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
