Australian Native Plants

  Duma florulenta (Tangled lignum)


Duma florulenta photo
Duma florulenta, syn. Muehlenbeckia florulenta

Photograph by Mark Marathon. Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

Duma florulenta photo
Duma florulenta, syn. Muehlenbeckia florulenta foliage

Photograph by Mark Marathon. Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

Duma florulenta photo
Duma florulenta, syn. Muehlenbeckia florulenta flowers

Photograph by Mark Marathon. Some rights reserved.    (view image details)



Credits:
Description and Habitat information is sourced from: State of Victoria (Agriculture Victoria), Victorian Resources Online,http://vro.agriculture.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/water_sip_scientific_a Licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license.



Growth Characteristics information is sourced from: State Flora Catalog, Government of South Australia Licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license.



TANGLED LIGNUM FACTS

distribution map showing range of Duma florulenta in Australia

Map is from The Atlas of Living Australia web site, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License


Common Name
Tangled lignum

Description
Tangled lignum is hairless perennial shrub, to 2.5 m high, with many slender tangled striate branches and branchlets.

Leaves alternate, linear or lanceolate, on most plants rarely remaining for long and usually not occurring on the older branches.

Plants are monoecious (separate male and female flowers). Flowers small, yellowish, solitary or in whorl-like clusters along the branchlets. Fruiting body more or less top-shaped, dry, 5mm long. Flowering throughout most of the year. The plant is also known as Muehlenbeckia florulenta. (The accepted name is now Duma florulenta)

Habitat
Swamps, river flats, intermittently inundated areas.

Distribution
Native to inland areas of mainland Australia. It is found in Western Australia, Northern Territory, Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland.

Growth Characteristics
Height (m): 1 - 2
Spread (m): 1 - 2.5
Soil Texture: sand, loam, clay
Soil pH: acid soils, neutral soils, alkaliine soils
Frost Sensitivity: resistant
Minimum Rainfall (mm): 300
Flower Colour: yellow, white
Flower Season: spring, summer

(source: SA State Flora Catalog)



Classification
Class:Magnoliopsida
Order:Caryophyllales
Family:Polygonaceae
Genus:Duma
Species:florulenta
Common Name:Tangled lignum


Relatives in same Genus
  Duma adpressa