(nat) Australian saltbush
Perennial herbs from an elongate taproot; stems prostrate, 6—15 dm long, many- branched, forming spreading mats. Leaves elliptic, elliptic-oblong to spatulate, occa-sionally narrowly ovate, 1-3.5 cm long, 2-0.9 cm wide, upper surface sparsely mealy pubescent to glabrate, lower surface densely mealy pubescent, margins irregularly and remotely repand-dentate, sometimes upper ones entire. Flowers unisexual (and the plants monoecious), in axillary clusters. Fruiting bracts thick and fleshy, reddish-tinged to red, connate ca. V2 their length, rhombic, 4-6 mm long, apex with a large triangular tooth, sometimes also with a few smaller lateral teeth. Seed black or dark brown, 1.5-2 mm long. [2n = 18.] Native to Australia; in Hawai‘i said to have been introduced to Lana‘i about 1895 as an experimental forage plant for cattle (Pope, 1929), now naturalized in dry to seasonally wet areas, 0-150 m, on all of the main islands. First collected on Moloka‘i in 1910 (Rock s.n., BISH).—Plate 68.