Maireana brevifolia (Chenopodiaceae: Camphorosmeae), a new naturalized alien plant species in South Africa

Abstract

We describe and discuss the distribution of a new, naturalized alien species, Maireana brevifolia (R.Br.) Paul G.Wilson (Chenopodiaceae), a native of Australia, in the western regions of South Africa. First discovered near Worcester, Western Cape in 1976, the species is now established in disturbed karoo shrubby rangelands, along dirt roads and on saline alluvia, from northern Namaqualand to the western Little Karoo. In the South African flora, M. brevifolia is most easily confused with the indigenous Bassia salsoloides (Fenzl) AJ.Scott, from which it is distinguished by the flat to cup-shaped and almost glabrous perianth with woolly-ciliate lobes, and the hardened and winged fruiting perianth.