Plants of
South Australia
Maireana eriantha
Amaranthaceae
Woolly Bluebush
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Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
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Keith
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 2

Prior names

Kochia eriantha

Kochia concava

Common names

Woolly Bluebush

Etymology

'Maireana', after the 19th century French botanist, Adolphe Lemaire and 'eriantha', from Greek 'erio', meaning woolly and 'anthos', meaning flower.

Distribution and status

Found in open shrubland on stony or clay soils in the Arid Lands region. Mainly recorded from South Australia. Native, common in South Australia, uncommon in Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia.
Herbarium regions: Lake Eyre, Gairdner-Torrens, Flinders Ranges
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Shrub to 0.5 m high, with twisted branches. Leaves narrow, fleshy and densely silky. Flowers arranged in leafy spikes, from July to September. Fruits are perianth covered with long woolly/silky hairs. Seeds are ellipsoid to circular, convex, brown seed. Seed embryo type is peripheral

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between July and September. Collect dry, papery fruits. Check that they contain well developed seeds before making a collection. Shake or strip fruits into a vessel. Remove twigs and other plant material.

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA3,200 (33.56 g)50+25-Sep-2008DJD1210
Lake Eyre
20-Jul-200980%-18°C
Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.
Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.
Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.
% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.