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NITREBUSH FACTS |
Map is from The Atlas of Living Australia web site, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License
Common Name
Nitrebush
Other Names
Dillon Bush, Nitre bush, Karumbil, Wild Grape
Description
The Nitrebush is a rigid spreading perennial shrub, 1 - 2 m in height and often more in diameter, the branchlets often tangled and sometimes spiny. Leaves alternate, more often clustered, mostly oblong, 1 - 4 cm long, thick, flat, smooth, blue-green or green, with only one visible vein.
Flowers small, white, borne in small clusters along the branches, with five concave and hooded petals 3 - 4 mm long.
Fruit a fleshy ovoid-oblong drupe, 1 - 2 cm long, becoming purple, red or golden when ripe, containing a single tapered highly sculptured stone. Flowering mainly in spring, with the fruit ripening mid-summer.
Habitat
On loam and clay soils, particularly abundant on over-grazed open plain and floodplain areas. Also along loamy, saline creek flats and on flat or low-lying areas in many communities.
Distribution
Native to inland areas of Australia: Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria., South Australia, Western Australia,
Growth Characteristics
Height (m): 1 - 2
Spread (m): 2 - 4
Soil Texture: sand, loam, clay, limestone
Soil pH: acid soils, neutral soils, alkaliine soils
Frost Sensitivity: resistant
Minimum Rainfall (mm): 300
Flower Colour: white
Flower Season: spring
(source: SA State Flora Catalog)
Wildlife Interest
birds, fruits small animals refuge
Classification
| Class: | Magnoliopsida | | Order: | Zygophyllales | | Family: | Zygophyllaceae | | Genus: | Nitraria | | Species: | billardierei | | Common Name: | Nitrebush |
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.jpg "Nitraria billardierei")