Atriplex spinibractea

Prostrate to ascending perennial with tangled, wiry stems, to c. 1 m diam., and to 40 cm high, monoecious. Leaves subsessile, narrowly ovate to elliptic, 3–8 mm long, 2–4 mm wide, margins entire or distantly toothed, virtually glabrous on upper surface, scurfy grey-green below. Male flowers in small terminal or upper-axillary clusters, female flowers solitary or few in axils. Fruiting bracteoles subsessile or shortly stipitate, mealy, fused from base to just below the widest part, deltoid to rhombic, c. 3–5 mm long and wide, usually irregularly toothed near the lateral angles, with several short (to c. 1 mm) spines attached around the margin and sometimes surface of a flattish central dorsal protuberance. Fruits Jun. (1 record).