Maireana ciliata

Maireana ciliata, commonly known as fissure weed^[2] or hairy bluebush,^[3] is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is a low-lying to erect perennial with woolly branches, narrowly oblong leaves, bisexual, densely hairy flowers arranged singly, and a hairy, lens-shaped, winged fruiting perianth.

Maireana ciliata is a low-lying to erect or spreading perennial plant that typically grows to a height of up to 15 cm (5.9 in) high with a woody base and thin, woolly branches. Its leaves are arranged alternately along the branches, linear to narrowly oblong, about 10 mm (0.39 in) long and covered with silky hairs. The flowers are bisexual and arranged singly or in leafy spikes, the fruiting perianth lens-shaped, about 3 mm (0.12 in) in diameter with 5 radial ridges, and covered with silky hairs. Flowering occurs from April to November.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

This species was first formally described in 1858 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Kochia ciliata in a Report on the Plants Collected During Mr. Babbage's Expedition into the North West Interior of South Australia in 1858 in the Victorian Government Parliamentary Papers.^[7] In 1975, Paul Wilson transferred the species to Maireana as M. ciliata, in the journal Nuytsia.^[8] The specific epithet (ciliata) means 'fringed with fine hairs'.^[9]

Maireana ciliata は主に石灰質の土壌に生育し、南オーストラリア州の中央部と北東部^{[ 3 ]}、ノーザンテリトリーの南部^{[ 10 ]}、ニューサウスウェールズ州の最西部^{[ 2 ]}、ビクトリア州の最北西部^{[ 6 ]} 、クイーンズランド州^{[ 4 ]}に分布しています。この種は南アフリカのケープ州にも導入されています^{[ 11 ]。}