- Tetragonia decumbens
Taxobox
name = Sea Spinach
regnum =Plant ae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis =Magnoliopsida
ordo =Caryophyllales
familia =Aizoaceae
genus = "Tetragonia "
species = "T. decumbens"
binomial = "Tetragonia decumbens"
binomial_authority = Mill."Tetragonia decumbens", commonly known as Sea Spinach, is a coastal shrub native to southern Africa.
Description
It grows as a trailing undershrub with thick, pale, furry stems, and thick, oval leaves one to six centimetres line and five to thirty millimetres wide. Flowers occur in clusters of three to five, and comprise four light yellow perianth segments surrounding a centre of many stamens.cite book | author = Prescott, A. and Venning, J. | year = 1984 | chapter = Aizoaceae | title = "Flora of Australia", Volume 4: Phytolaccaceae to Chenopodiaceae | location = Canberra | publisher = Australian Government Publishing Service]
Taxonomy
It was first described and named by
Philip Miller in 1768.APNI | name = "Tetragonia decumbens" Mill. | id = 18916] In 1862 the name "T. zeyheri" was published byEduard Fenzl , but this has since been determined to be a synonym of "T. decumbens".APNI | name = "Tetragonia zeyheri" Fenzl | id = 263269]Distribution and habitat
Native to southern
Africa , it grows on coastal and estuarine sand dunes.It is naturalised in
Australia , where it occurs inWestern Australia ,South Australia andNew South Wales . The New South Wales specimens were long misidentified as "T. nigrescens".cite journal | first = Petrus | last = Heyligers | year = 1999 | title = The occurrence and history of "Tetragonia decumbens" (Aizoaceae) in New South Wales | journal = Telopea | volume = 8 | issue = 3 | pages = 371–373] It was also formerly naturalised in Victoria, but it is now extinct there.References
External links
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