''Roepera similis'' (

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

''Zygophyllum simile'') is a

succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

annual herb native to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Description

It grows as a prostrate or erect annual herb, branching from the base and reaching a height of from four to 60 centimeters. Flowers are yellow or white.

Taxonomy

''Roepera similis'' was first described in 1990 by

Hansjörg Eichler Hansjörg Eichler (1 April 1916 – 22 June 1992) was a German-born botanist, educated in Europe, who worked in Europe and Australia, and whose greatest contribution was to Australian botany. Life Hansjörg Eichler, the son of architect, Gusta ...

as ''Zygophyllum simile'', based on a specimen has collected from the Musgrave Ranges in South Australia in 1963. It was transferred to the genus '' Roepera'' in 2003, when '' Zygophyllum'' as then

circumscribed In geometry, the circumscribed circle or circumcircle of a polygon is a circle that passes through all the vertices of the polygon. The center of this circle is called the circumcenter and its radius is called the circumradius. Not every polyg ...

was found not to be

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

Distribution and habitat

It occurs in every mainland state of Australia, favouring red or grey sandy soils.

References

Zygophylloideae Rosids of Western Australia Flora of South Australia Flora of the Northern Territory Flora of Queensland Flora of New South Wales Flora of Victoria (state) Succulent plants Taxa named by Hansjörg Eichler Plants described in 1990 {{Australia-rosid-stub