Buckbush
Stressed
Buckbush
Small Habit
Animals
Plants
Info
| Buckbush Stressed | | Buckbush Small Habit | | ||
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 Bush, with size🔎 | 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 on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Flinders Ranges and 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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