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Holloway's crystalwort

Atriplex hollowayi

Holloway's crystalwort
Photo: Peter de Lange, CC0

Holloway's crystalwort is a rare, succulent annual saltbush native to New Zealand's North Island, growing on unvegetated sand above the high tide line. It is nationally critical and very hard to cultivate, so it is best appreciated in its native habitat or conservation settings rather than grown routinely in gardens.

Family
Amaranthaceae (Amaranth & beet family)
Grows as
Annual, Succulent
Light
Full sun
Water
Water sparingly and let the sand or mix dry out between waterings, as it is adapted to dry, free-draining beach sand.
Soil
Very free-draining sandy mix with little organic matter.
Temperature
Mild, frost-free conditions suit it; protect below about 5 °C.
How easy
Hard
Native range
New Zealand North I.
Climate
subtropical

About

Atriplex hollowayi, also known as Holloway's crystalwort, is a species of annual herbaceous plant in the genus Atriplex. This species is endemic to New Zealand. It has the "Nationally Critical" conservation status under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.

Where it grows

It inhabits the strand line, the unvegetated stable sand above the high tide line. It was once found on beaches from the Northland Region to Wellington. Now it is only found on one beach, with a population estimated at fewer than 50 plants. The reason for its decline is unknown.

Other Atriplex plants

Tubercled saltbush · Swamp Saltbush · Fan Saltbush · Silverscale saltbush · Native Orache · Atriplex billardierei · Silver saltbush · Fourwing saltbush · Gray saltbush · Flat-topped saltbush · Shadscale saltbush · Heartscale

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Atriplex hollowayi 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.

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