Salicornia australis Sol. ex. Benth.
S. indica auct. non Willd. in Ges. Naturf. Fr. Neue Schr. 2, 1799, 111, t.4, f.4.
A perennial subshrub with prostrate woody stems ± 3-4 mm. diam., up to 3 dm. or more long; branches ∞, the plant forming extensive patches up to 6 dm. or more diam. Branchlets mainly opp., us. crowded, erect or ascending, completely invested by lvs, which are long-persistent in withered state. Lvs opp., ± translucent, succulent, green or flushed with red; the pairs completely fused to form a terete "joint" 5-6-(15) × 3-7 mm.; apex free, forming a "collar" with 2 minute lobes. Fls axillary, in upper portion of branchlets, forming a "spike" with shorter, thicker "joints"; the fls sunk in axils, 5-10-(15) in a ring. Per. fleshy, thickened, ± urceolate, with 3-5 minute teeth; stamens 1-2; style branches 2, stigmatic portion linear, minutely papillose. Fr. ± ovoid; seeds ± 2 mm. diam., with coriac. testa clad in minute hooked hairs.
DIST.: N., S., Ch. Common throughout in salt marsh or on coastal rock-platforms and rock-crevices.
FL. 11-3. FT. 12-4.
The N.Z. sp. is generally cited as S. australis Sol. ex Forst. f. Prodr. 1786, 88, but this is a nomen nudum. Whether our sp. is really conspecific with the Australian has not been adequately studied. McCann (J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc., 50, 1952, 872) has examined N.Z. material and states: "Each floret is somewhat urceolate or obpyramidal, depending much on its position in the axil; 3 to 5 minute teeth or lobes border the floral opening (very suggestive of calyx teeth); its walls are much thickened. Within the 'calyx cup' I discovered two minute orbicular deeply concaved, membranous floral lobes, p1. 2, figs 8 & 9 (perhaps corresponding to a corolla) embracing the ovary. Within those lobes I was more than surprised to find the young stamens, two in one lobe and three in the other . . . Usually the stigma is extruded after the first stamen . . . On examining immature florets it was found that only one anther matures at a time . . . The pollen is spherical and pitted".
Examination of fresh material has not so far confirmed the number of stamens as more than 2, nor the presence of "floral lobes". It may be that McCann was dealing with abnormal material.
