Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Einadia trigonos
Common name
Fishweed, Lax Goosefoot
Family
Chenopodiaceae
Where found
On heavy soils, rocky sites, and sometimes saline sites. Coast, ranges, tablelands, and Western Slopes. Rarely elsewhere.
subsp. leiocarpa: Coast, ranges, tablelands, and Western Slopes. Not common.
subsp. stellulata: Sydney area south to Thirlmere.
subsp. trigonos: Coast, ranges, and tablelands. Rarely Kosciuszko National Park.
Notes
Perennial herb, stems to about 2 m long, twining or prostrate. Leaves with a strong fishy odour when rubbed. Leaves alternating along the stems, 1-5 cm long; 5-30 mm wide, broad-triangular, often with two backward pointing pointed lobes at the base, upper surface almost hairless, lower surface sparsely mealy. Flowers 0.5–1 mm in diameter, with 5 'petals'. Flower clusters spike-like or reduced to clusters at the bases of the leaves. Seed cases dry at maturity.
subsp. leiocarpa: 'Petals' broad, not or only slightly narrowed at the base, covering most of the fruit; with bladder-like hairs scattered over the back which collapse and form a mealy layer, so somewhat mealy.
subsp. stellulata: 'Petals' narrow with a narrow base, exposing most of the fruit.
subsp. trigonos: 'Petals' mainly in the lower third and along the margins; broad, not or only slightly narrowed at the base, covering most of the fruit; with a few scattered bladder-like hairs which collapse and form a mealy layer, so slightly mealy.
PlantNET description of species and key to subspecies: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Einadia~trigonos (accessed 12 January, 2021)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application:
