Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Enchylaena tomentosa

Fruiting stems. Photographer Don Wood, Ben Boyd National Park south of Eden

Fruiting stems. Photographer Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, western NSW

Shrub. Photographer Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, western NSW

Common name

Ruby saltbush

Family

Chenopodiaceae

Where found

Dry forest, woodland, mallee, shrubland, and disturbed sites. Beaches, dunes, and other saline sites. Coastal and Western Slopes. Occasionally elsewhere.

Notes

Perennial herb or shrub to about 1 m tall or spreading to prostrate.  Leaves fleshy. Stems grooved, hairy to hairless, sometimes glaucous.  Leaves alternating up the stems,  0.5-2 cm long, cylindrical to flattened cylindrical or cigar-shaped, hairy to hairless, sometimes glaucous.  Flowers  about 1 mm in diameter, with 5 perianth lobes.  Ripe fruit edible, purple, red, orange, or yellow, drying black, 3-8 mm in diameter, flattened globular.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Enchylaena~tomentosa (accessed 12 January, 2021)