Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
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Einadia trigonos
Fishweed, Lax Goosefoot
Chenopodiaceae
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.
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)
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