Hairy-fruit Bluebush
Fruit, back & Red Stem
Buckbush
Small Young Branching Plant
Animals
Plants
Info
| Hairy-fruit Bluebush Fruit, back & Red Stem | | Buckbush Small Young Branching Plant | | ||
Animals Plants Info |
 | Class: | Plants (Plantae) - Land Plants (Charophyta) - Land Plants (Equisetopsida) | ||||||||||||||||
| Order: | Betalains (Caryophyllales) | |||||||||||||||||
| Family: | Goosefoot (Chenopodiaceae) iNaturalist Observation | |||||||||||||||||
| Species: | Buckbush (Salsola australis)| This Photo: | 🔍Small Mature Plant🔎 | Synonyms: | Salsola kali or Salsola tragus | Other names: | Prickly Rolypoly, Prickly Saltwort, Roly Poly, Russian Thistle, Saltwort or Soft Roly-poly | Thank you Andrew Allanson for identifying and Dr Kym Nicolson & Alan Dandie (Alan_Dandie) for confirming the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found in the Murray Mallee SA, Flinders Ranges and possibly elsewhere What an intriguing plant this is. Long considered to be an introduced plant, studies proved this to be a native and various forms of it have been DNA tested and all link back to the same species. It has petalless flowers, that can be green or red, with 5-lobed pale-green fruits somewhat similar to bluebush (Maireana sp); which makes sense as it's in the same family (Chenopodiaceae). It's instantly recognisable in broad acre farming regions from the car, but looks incredibly different in it's early stages & smaller sizes. It isn't so wide spread in native habitats. Generally considered a pest, but a native just the same that should not be removed from native sites. It has as many common names as habits
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