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Eremophea Paul G.Wilson

Reference
Fl.Australia 4:326 (1984)
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Family Chenopodiaceae.

Habit and leaf form. Shrubs (small). Plants succulent; unarmed. Leaves cauline. Plants with a basal concentration of leaves, or with neither basal nor terminal concentrations of leaves. Stems not ‘jointed’. Stem internodes solid. Helophytic to xerophytic. Leaves minute to large; alternate (floral leaves often clustered); spiral, or distichous; fleshy; sessile; simple; epulvinate. Leaf blades entire; flat, or solid; semi-terete; obovate (to narrowly obovate), or linear; attenuate at the base, or cuneate at the base, or oblique at the base, or rounded at the base. Leaves without stipules. Leaf blade margins entire. Leaves without a persistent basal meristem. Leaf anatomy. Hydathodes present, or absent. Hairs present (tomentose all over with dendritic or stellate hairs); glandular hairs absent; complex hairs present, or absent. Branched hairs present, or absent. Extra-floral nectaries absent.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers hermaphrodite. Unisexual flowers absent. Plants hermaphrodite.

Inflorescence and flower features. Flowers solitary, or aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in cymes. The terminal inflorescence unit cymose. Inflorescences axillary; 3-flowered cymes congested into a globular inflorescence due to close aggregation of floral leaves. Flowers ebracteate; ebracteolate; minute, or small; regular; cyclic. Hypogynous disk present, or absent. Perianth sepaline; 5; 1 -whorled; joined (imbricate); fleshy, or non-fleshy; persistent; accrescent, or non-accrescent. Calyx present; not replaced by accrescent bracteoles; (interpreting the perianth as such) 5; gamosepalous; blunt-lobed; imbricate; cupuliform; non-fleshy; persistent (in the fruit); accrescent. The fruiting calyx not berrylike; spiny. Corolla absent. Androecial members definite in number. Androecium 5. Androecial members free of the perianth, or adnate (to the base of the perianth); all equal; free of one another; 1 -whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 5; all more or less similar in shape; isomerous with the perianth; oppositisepalous. Anthers bent inwards in bud; dehiscing via longitudinal slits; tetrasporangiate. Gynoecium (2–)5 carpelled. The pistil 1 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synovarious to synstylovarious; superior. Ovary unilocular; 1 locular; sessile. Gynoecium stylate. Styles (1–)2–3(–4); partially joined. Placentation basal. Ovules in the single cavity 1; pendulous, or ascending; non-arillate; campylotropous.

Fruit and seed features. Fruit non-fleshy; indehiscent; capsular-indehiscent, or a nut; 1 celled. Gynoecia of adjoining flowers combining to form a multiple fruit, or not forming a multiple fruit. Fruit 1 seeded. Seeds more or less non-endospermic. Perisperm present, or absent. Cotyledons 2. Embryo coiled, or curved, or bent.

Etymology. From the Greek for "desert" and "loving", in reference to the preferred habitat of E. spinosa.

J. Gathe, 8 September 2016

Taxonomic Literature

  • Blackall, William E.; Grieve, Brian J. 1988. How to know Western Australian wildflowers : a key to the flora of the extratropical regions of Western Australia. Part I : Dicotyledons (Casuarinaceae to Chenopodiaceae). University of W.A. Press.. [Perth]..
  • Australia. Bureau of Flora and Fauna 1984. Flora of Australia. Volume 4, Phytolaccaceae to Chenopodiaceae. Australian Govt. Pub. Service.. Canberra..