Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

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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)