Fruits/Seeds
Fruits are bright and small, 5 mm in diameter. Prior to ripening they are green-yellow in colour and turn red-orange when they have ripened.
Field Guide
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Ruby Saltbush
Small, semi-succulent, spreading shrub that grows 1 - 2 m tall. Branches grow to 1 m long.
Leaves
Leaves are green in colour with fine white hairs. Leaves are semi-succulent, cylindrical in shape and grow up to 2 cm long.
Flowers
Flowers are small and solitary, held in the leaf axils (where leaf joins stem).
What to Observe
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First fully open single flower
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Full flowering (record all days)
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End of flowering (when 95% of the flowers have faded)
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No flowering
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Fruits/seeds (record all days)
When and Where
When To Look
- Single, axillary flowers occur from spring to early summer and autumn
- Fruits follow flowering with a very showy, small red ripe fruit
Where To Look
- Common through most of southern and central Australia
- Southern Ocean in South Australia
- Adapted to an extremely wide variety of soils, including poor soils from coastal, partially stabilised, dune sands to riverine clay loams
- Often in saline depressions, and deep siliceous, sandy soils in many semi-arid regions
What Else?
Great variation exists in leaf colour and hairiness, plant stature and colour of the fruit.
