''Chenopodium baccatum'' (Syn. ''Rhagodia baccata''), commonly known as berry saltbush, is a species of shrub endemic to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Description

It is a spreading shrub up to two metres high, with elliptical leaves, and flowers that occur in a panicle. It bears red berries.

Taxonomy

It was first published in 1805 by

Jacques Labillardière Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière (28 October 1755 – 8 January 1834) was a French biologist noted for his descriptions of the flora of Australia. Labillardière was a member of a voyage in search of the La Pérouse expedition. He pub ...

as ''Chenopodium baccatum''. In 1810, Robert Brown transferred it into ''Rhagodia'' as ''Rhagodia billardierei'', but this name was illegal, as there were no grounds for the specific epithet to be to overturned. In 1849, Alfred Moquin-Tandon transferred the species into ''Rhagodia'' as ''R. baccata'', and this name remained current until 2012. After phylogenetic research, Fuentes-Bazan et al. (2012) included ''Rhagodia'' again in genus ''

Chenopodium ''Chenopodium'' is a genus of numerous species of perennial or annual herbaceous flowering plants known as the goosefoots, which occur almost anywhere in the world. It is placed in the family Amaranthaceae in the APG II system; older classific ...

''. Two subspecies are currently recognised: the

autonym Autonym may refer to: * Autonym, the name used by a person to refer to themselves or their language; see Exonym and endonym * Autonym (botany), an automatically created infrageneric or infraspecific name See also * Nominotypical subspecies, in zo ...

''Chenopodium baccatum'' subsp. ''baccatum'', and ''Chenopodium baccatum'' subsp. ''dioicum'' (Nees) S.Fuentes & Borsch, (syn. ''Rhagodia dioica'' Nees) which was demoted from specific rank by Paul G. Wilson in 1983. These two subspecies intergrade in areas where they co-occur.

Distribution and habitat

It mainly occurs along the coast of

southwestern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

, ranging from

Geraldton Geraldton ( Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

, south to

Cape Leeuwin Cape Leeuwin is the most south-westerly (but not most southerly) mainland point of the Australian continent, in the state of Western Australia. Description A few small islands and rocks, the St Alouarn Islands, extend further in Flinders ...

, and east along the south coast as far as

Cape Arid Cape Arid National Park is a national park located in Western Australia, southeast of Perth. The park is situated east of Esperance and lies on the shore of the south coast from the eastern end of the Recherche Archipelago. The bay at its eas ...

. There are also some outlying populations: it has been confirmed as occurring as far north as

North West Cape North West Cape is a peninsula in the north-west of Western Australia. Cape Range runs down the spine of the peninsula and Ningaloo Reef runs along the western edge. It is in the Gascoyne region and includes the town of Exmouth. History In 16 ...

, and well inland near Wiluna. It does, however, appear to be endemic to Western Australia; alleged collections of this plant from other states have now been shown to be specimens of the similar '' Rhagodia candolleana''.

References

Susy Fuentes-Bazan, Guilhem Mansion, Thomas Borsch: Towards a species level tree of the globally diverse genus Chenopodium (Chenopodiaceae). In: ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.'' Vol. 62, No. 1, 2012, , p. 372, DOI:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.10.006 * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q7320072 baccatum Eudicots of Western Australia Taxa named by Jacques Labillardière