About Maireana aphylla (R.Br.) Paul G.Wilson
Maireana aphylla is a widely branched shrub that typically reaches 0.5–2 m (1 ft 8 in – 6 ft 7 in) in height and around 1 m (3 ft 3 in) in width. Its branchlets are sometimes covered in woolly hairs and are often spiny. The leaves are arranged alternately, more or less cylindrical, and fleshy; they measure 1–8 mm (0.039–0.315 in) long, are usually covered in woolly hair, and often drop off as they mature. Flowers are mostly dioecious, arranged singly, and sometimes have tiny bracteoles at their base. Male flowers are bell-shaped, around 1.5 mm (0.059 in) high and slightly woolly. Female flowers are more or less spherical, around 1 mm (0.039 in) high, with a prominent radiating bulge, a hairless ovary, and two stigmas. The fruiting perianth is straw-coloured, mostly hairless, with a hemispherical to top-shaped tube 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) high that has a prominent bulge, and a horizontal wing around 8 mm (0.31 in) in diameter. Flowering mostly occurs from December to April, and the fruit is a hemispherical utricle. Commonly called cotton bush, this species occurs in all mainland Australian states and territories except the Australian Capital Territory. It grows in seasonally inundated clay soils west of the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales, southern Queensland, the southern half of the Northern Territory, and the Carnarvon-Wiluna area of Western Australia.
