Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Atriplex australasica
Common name
Native Orache
Family
Chenopodiaceae
Where found
Margins of saline marshes & the shores of coastal lakes. Coastal. Occasionally in the ranges. Sydney area.
Notes
Annual herb to 1 m high or sprawling. Leaves alternating up the stems, 3–10 cm long, 15–40 mm wide. Lower leaves lance head shaped or narrow diamond-shaped, often lobed, hairless or mealy on the lower surface, upper leaves grading to linear upwards on the stems, smaller than the lower leaves. Male and female flowers on the same plant, small. Male flowers with 5 'petals', lacking bracteoles. Female flowers usually with 0 'petals', but subtended by a pair of bracteoles, free from each other from midway or the lower, which enlarge and cover the seed case at maturity. Flowers in mixed clusters, spike-like or clustered at the bases of the leaves.
VICFLORA description: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/e040806a-5373-476d-961e-f8c1668909f0 (accessed 11 January 2021)
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