Biology:Roycea pycnophylloides

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Short description: Species of shrub

Roycea pycnophylloides
Roycea pycnophylloides - Flickr - Kevin Thiele.jpg

Declared rare (DEC)[1]
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Amaranthaceae
Genus: Roycea
Species:
R. pycnophylloides
Binomial name
Roycea pycnophylloides
C.A.Gardner[1][3]

Roycea pycnophylloides, commonly known as Saltmat, is a species of shrub endemic to Western Australia.[1] It has no synonyms.[4]

Description

Roycea pycnophylloides is a perennial, dioecious herb which forms silvery, densely branched, mats of up to 1 m in diameter. The branchlets are closely woolly and obscured by the alternate, imbricate, fleshy leaves which are about 2 mm long by 1 mm wide and silky when young. The male flowers are cup-shaped with thin, ovate tepals which are about 1 mm long and silky outside. The anthers are exserted, and the pistillode is pubescent. The female flowers are about 1 mm long, have no staminodes absent, and the stigmas are exserted and long (about 4 mm). The fruit is broadly ovoid (about. 2 mm high) and is surrounded at the base by a persistent perianth.[5]

Distribution and habitat

It is found near the Mortlock River near Meckering in southern Western Australia, growing on the saline sandy flats around the river.[5]

References

Wikidata ☰ Q22808427 entry