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Atriplex cinerea
Also called Coast Saltbush, Grey Saltbush
Gray saltbush is a heavily branched, silvery leaved coastal shrub in the amaranth and beet family, growing up to about 1.8 m tall. It thrives in salty, sandy, nutrient poor soils and is used for dune stabilisation and erosion control.
Atriplex cinerea, commonly known as grey saltbush, coast saltbush, barilla or truganini, is a plant species in the family Amaranthaceae. It occurs in sheltered coastal areas and around salt lakes in the Australian states of Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales. The species is also known to be present in the Waimea inlet in New Zealand, although has historically been found in Boulder Bank, D'Urville Island, and Palliser Bay.
The Latin specific name cinerea means "ashy". Atriplex cinerea has a chromosome number 2n=54, indicating the species is hexaploid as the base number in Atriplex is 9.
Atriplex cinerea thrives in coastal environments. It is considered native to Victoria but naturalised in some parts of the state. It is highly tolerant of salt (being a halophyte) and when compared to other coastal species, e.g. Banksia integrifolia, Leptospermum laevigatum, Melaleuca lanceolata, this plant is often located closest to the sea, in the harshest of conditions. It is able to colonise sand dunes despite the prevailing winds and sea spray. The soils on which it grows are nutrient poor and can be highly alkaline (where sand is composed of calcium carbonate). Survival in this environment is possible due to numerous adaptations, including epidermal bladder cells that can sequester the salt from vascular tissue/their interior, and C4 photosynthesis, present in many species of the genus Atriplex.
Atriplex cinerea is often used by humans/local councils to help stabilise soils, prevent erosion and revegetate/rehabilitate at risk areas. The genus Atriplex is particularly useful in dryland salinity management where they can change the water table and surface soil characteristics allowing for other plants to then colonise.
Tubercled saltbush · Swamp Saltbush · Fan Saltbush · Silverscale saltbush · Native Orache · Atriplex billardierei · Silver saltbush · Fourwing saltbush · Flat-topped saltbush · Shadscale saltbush · Heartscale · Crownscale
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Atriplex cinerea by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
