Atriplex vesicaria, commonly known as Bladder Saltbush, is a species of saltbush endemic to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Description

It grows as an erect or sprawling shrub up to a metre high. Leaves are oval in shape, five to 25 millimetres long, and 3 to 15 millimetres wide.

Taxonomy

The species was first published by George Bentham

George Bentham

George Bentham CMG FRS was an English botanist, characterized by Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century".- Formative years :...

 in 1870, based on a name selected by Robert Heward. The species' only synonym is Pachypharynx neglecta, published by Paul Aellen in 1938.

It is a highly variable species. The Flora of Australia

Flora of Australia (series)

The Flora of Australia is a 59 volume series describing the vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens present in Australia and its external territories...

treatment of this species recognises eight subspecies, namely A. vesicaria subsp. vesicaria, A. vesicaria subsp. appendiculata, A. vesicaria subsp. variabilis

Atriplex vesicaria subsp. variabilis

Atriplex vesicaria subsp. variabilis is subspecies of Bladder Saltbush endemic to Australia.-Description:It grows as an erect shrub up to a metre high. Leaves are oval in shape, with entire margins, ten to 15 millimetres long, and 4 to 6 millimetres wide.-Taxonomy:The species was first published by...

, A. vesicaria subsp. calcicola, A. vesicaria subsp. minor, A. vesicaria subsp. incompta, A. vesicaria subsp. macrocystidia and A. vesicaria subsp. sphaerocarpa. Not all of these are accepted in South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

, where the subspecies tend to intergrade.

Distribution and habitat

It occurs in arid and semi-arid areas across southern Australia, growing in coastal dunes, salt pans, salt lakes, sandy plains and limestone ridges.