Class
Family
Genus
Classification
Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Atriplex billardierei (Moq.) Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. II. (Fl. Nov.-Zel.) Part I, 215 (1853)
Synonymy:
- ≡ Obione billardierei Moq. (1840)
- ≡ Theleophyton billardierei (Moq.) Moq. in de Candolle, Prodr. 10 116 (1849)
- = Atriplex chrystallina Hook.f., London Journal of Botany 6: 279 (1847)
Vernacular Name(s):
Crystalwort
Description
Decumbent, sprawling lightly branched, succulent. leafy, monoecious, annual herb, forming circular mats or Iow mounds within sand, to 2 or 3 m diam. Branches 20-150 mm long, succulent, cream or yellow, rooting at nodes; exposed surfaces coated with deciduous, watery, spherical, glistening papillae. Cotyledons (5-)10- 12 × (3-)5(-7) mm, succulent, Pale yellow, margins entire; these followed by 2-3 Pairs of ± sinuate, or lobed juvenile leaves. Adult leaves (5-)10(-20) × (2-)5(-7) mm, oblong-obovate, ovate, elliptic, or lanceolate, green to glaucous-green, succulent. Petioles short 0.5-1 mm. Leaf surface glabrous, sparsely to densely covered in deciduous watery, spherical, glistening papillae; apex and base obtuse; margin entire, very rarely with one or two lobes. Male flowers axillary, in clusters of 3-4, rarely single; occasionally with rudimentary stigma; perianth lobes 5 , green or pale cream, 1.2 mm long, elliptic-oblong, apex inflexed, cucullate, margins laciniate-crenate, abaxial surface covered in watery papillae; stamens 5 , filaments 0.6 mm long, white, anthers 0.2 mm long, oblong, basifixed, pollen sulphur yellow. Female flowers minute, (1-) 1.5(-2) mm, shortly stipitate, borne in leaf axils, either solitary, or in pairs, usually accompanied by a short shoot with one pair of reduced leaves. Peduncles minute, 0.25 mm long. Perianth absent; bracteoles fused for ¾ of their length, lips entire; external bracteole surfaces entirely covered in watery, spherical, glistening, papillae 0.2-0.3 mm diam.; style connate, stigmas 2, 1-1.3 mm, white, half exserted, tapering-terete, 0.1-0.2 mm diam., exserted portion with antrorse papillae. Ovary flattenedat right angles to lips, 0.5 mm diam., sessile or almost so. Fruiting bracteoles (3.3-)5(-9.5) × (2.2-)3.7(-6) mm, light brown or tan, subsessile or shortly stipitate; urceolate, valves rigidly hsed for ¾ of their length, swollen toward base, corky, otherwise coriaceous with an entire margin, apex usually entire, rarely finely crenate, or fimbriate; Surface densely coated in watery papillae 0.2-0.3 mm diam. Seed circular in outline, convex, (1.8-)2(-4) mm diam., testa chestnut-brown, maturing to purple- brown, fading to black in herbarium specimens, surface matt, ± smooth, Or finely rugose; radicle lateral erect. FL Oct-Apr; FT Nov-May.
[Reproduced from de Lange et al. (2000, New Zealand J. Bot. 38: 551-567) with permission from The Royal Society of New Zealand.]
Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
Bibliography
de Candolle, A.P. 1846: Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis. Vol. 10. Treuttel et Würtz, Paris.
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D. A.; Crowcroft, G. M. 2000: Taxonomy, ecology, and conservation of Atriplex billardierei and A. hollowayi sp. nov. (Chenopodiaceae) in Australasia. New Zealand Journal of Botany 38(4): 551–567.
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Hitchmough, R.; Townsend, A.J. 2009: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand (2008 revision). New Zealand Journal of Botany 47: 61–96. [Relic]
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Heenan, P.B.; Courtney, S.P.; Molloy, B.P.J.; Ogle, C.C.; Rance, B.D. 2004: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 42(1): 45–76.
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Nationally Endangered]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Relic]
Hooker, J.D. 1852–1853 ("1853"): The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. II. Flora Novae-Zelandiae. Part I. Flowering plants. Lovell Reeve, London.
London Journal of Botany
