Eastern Flat-top Saltbush

Scientific Name:

Atriplex lindleyi

Eastern Flat-top Saltbush plant
Photo: A J Brown

Common Name:

Flat-topped Saltbush

Status:

Native to Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Western Australia.

Plant Description:

Spreading erect mealy-grey annual shrub, to about 35 cm high. Leaves obovate or ovate-lanceolate, 2–3 cm long, 5–15 mm wide, rather thick and soft, the margins with angular teeth.

Male and female flowers separate but on the same plant (monoecious). Flowers mostly in clusters in the leaf axils. Fruiting body fibrous and spongy, to 15 mm long and wide, globular or top-shaped, flattened at the summit, with two equal broad rounded wings which arise towards the base of the globular part and spread horizontally near its summit. Flowering most of the year, mostly spring and summer.

Habitat:

Clay or loam soils, often in depressions or low-lying areas.

Region	Salinity Class	Waterlogging Class
Mallee, Loddon Murray	S2, S3, S4	W1, W2

Comments:

Not palatable to livestock but will successfully colonise scalds. A number of subspecies occur in Victoria, including subsp. conduplicata, subsp. inflata and subsp. lindleyi. They largely differ in the shape and size of their fruiting bodies.

Eastern Falt-top Saltbush

Fallen ripe fruit of Eastern Flat-top Saltbush
Photo: A J Brown

Fruiting branch of Eatern Flat-top Saltbush
Photo: A J Brown

Eastern Flat-top Saltbush fruiting branch

Fruit and male flower of Eastern Flat-top Saltbush
Photo: A J Brown

Eastern Flat-top Saltbush fruit and male flower

Fruit of Eastern Flat-top Saltbush
Photo: A J Brown

Leaves of Eastern Flat-top Saltbush
Photo: A J Brown

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