Maireana turbinata
Paul G.WilsonOpen-branched shrub to c. 50 cm high; branchlets closely white-woolly. Leaves alternate, sub-terete, 3–8 mm long, fleshy, often somewhat glaucous, variably covered with white, semi-appressed hairs. Flowers bisexual, lobes woolly. Fruiting perianth 14–20 mm diam., glabrous or lobes woolly at margins, flat at apex; tube turbinate, c. 5 mm diam. at apex, firm, smooth, usually obliquely attached; wing broadly elliptic or circular, undulate, shining brown when mature, sometimes tinged pink; radicular slit absent. Fruits mainly Aug.–Nov.
LoM, MuM, VRiv, MSB, RobP, MuF. Also WA, NT, SA, Qld, NSW. Occasional on heavier, often reddish soils of flats and interdune swales in the far north-west of Victoria (e.g. Murrayville, Hattah, Red Cliffs, Mildura, northern Sunset Country).
Closely resembling Maireana georgei, from which it is readily distinguished by the lack of a radicular slit on the wing of the fruiting perianth. Hybrids between M. turbinata and Enchylaena tomentosa have been recorded from the Manangatang and Annuello districts.
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
