Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Rhagodia spinescens
Common name
Spiny Saltbush, Berry Saltbush, Hedge Saltbush
Family
Chenopodiaceae
Where found
Woodland, shrubland, grassy areas, and near water. Western Slopes.
Notes
Shrub to 3 m tall. Fruit fleshy. Older branchlets often spine-tipped. Fruit fleshy. Young branches covered with inflated hairs that often collapse and form a mealy layer on the surface. Leaves opposite or almost opposite each other, 0.5-2 cm long, 2–15 mm wide, scurfy to mealy, grey-green or whitish, tips blunt. Male and female flowers mostly on different plants; flowers occasionally bisexual. Flowers grey-green or whitish, mealy on the outer surface, with 5 'petals' to about 1.5 mm long, united at the base. Flowers in branched or spike-like clusters. Flowers mostly Jan.–Apr. Fruit pink, orange, or red to purple, 3-6 mm in diameter, surrounded at the base with mealy grey-green or whitish fleshy enlarged 'petals'.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Rhagodia~spinescens (accessed 4 February, 2021)
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