Kingdom Plantae Family Amaranthaceae Genus Maireana | Order Caryophyllales Subfamily Camphorosmoideae Rank Species | |
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Similar Maireana, Maireana georgei, Maireana aphylla, Enchylaena, Maireana sedifolia | ||
Maireana brevifolia is a shrub that is native to Australia and naturalised in South Africa, the Middle East and the Canary Islands. Common names in Australia include cotton bush, eastern cotton-bush, short-leaf bluebush, small-leaf bluebush and yanga bush. It grows to between 0.2 and 1 metre high. The flower-like fruits are up to 9 mm in diameter and comprise 5 paper-thin wings. It is one of the first species to appear in disturbed saline habitats.
It has been used as a dry-season fodder plant in South Africa and Namibia where it is known as Australian bluebush.
References
Maireana brevifolia Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA