Tecticornia arbuscula, the shrubby glasswort or scrubby samphire,[2] is a species of plant in the family Amaranthaceae, native to Australia. It is a shrub that grows to 2 metres in height, with a spreading habit. It has succulent swollen branchlets with small leaf lobes.[3][4]
| Shrubby glasswort | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: | Amaranthaceae |
| Genus: | Tecticornia |
| Species: | T. arbuscula |
| Binomial name | |
| Tecticornia arbuscula (R.Br.) K.A.Sheph. & Paul G.Wilson[1] | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
The species occurs on shorelines in coastal or estuarine areas or in salt marshes, especially marshes subject to occasional inundation by the ocean. It has a patchy distribution across south coastal Australia, occurring in southern Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania.[3][4][5]
Seeds of the species are enclosed in a hard, vaguely pyramid-shaped pericarp which reveal 1.5 mm long, narrow seeds. these seeds appear as golden brown, transparent and unornamented.[6]
Originally published by Robert Brown under the name Salicornia arbuscula, it was transferred into Sclerostegia by Paul G. Wilson in 1980, before being merged into Tecticornia in 2007.[1]
Taxon identifiers | |
|---|---|
| Tecticornia arbuscula |
|
| Salicornia arbuscula |
|