Native Liquorice
Drying Seed Pods
Murray Mallee Region
Scarlet Runner
Leaf & Vine
 
                      
Native Liquorice (Glycyrrhiza acanthocarpa)Class: Plants (Plantae) - Land Plants (Charophyta) - Land Plants (Equisetopsida) - Other Small Plants
Order: Legumes (Fabales)
Family: Legume (Fabaceae or Leguminosae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Native Liquorice (Glycyrrhiza acanthocarpa)
This Photo:     🔍Dried Seed Pods🔎
Other name: Southern Liquorice

Thank you PlantBrah for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found in the Murray Mallee SA and possibly elsewhere
A rambling plant easily mistaken for a weed.
Pale lilac flowers with rust coloured seed pods that contrast with the rest of the plant.
Summer flowering.
Notice the flower sepals & stem are covered in salt. Unusual for a plant that isn't saltbush.
You may think it a strange name, but the roots of it's foriegn relative, Glycyrrhiza glabra, are used to make Liquorice.
Please, don't dig them up to try it, they are rare and need to flourish in the ground to spread their seed.

Copyright © 2020-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 24-Jan-2020
This species is classed as RA (Rare) in the Murray Mallee, SA, by DENR (Regional Species Status Assessments, July 2010)