''Tecticornia lylei'', commonly known as wiry glasswort, is a small shrub with in the family

Chenopodiaceae Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it ...

. It occurs in

saline Saline may refer to: * Saline (medicine), a liquid with salt content to match the human body * Saline water, non-medicinal salt water * Saline, a historical term (especially US) for a salt works or saltern Places * Saline, Calvados, a commune in ...

clay soils on the beds of and around the perimeter of

salt lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per litre). ...

s. The erect shrub can grow up to 1 m in height and 1.5 m wide, and has slender branches with very slender branchlets, its articles cylindrical, dull mid-green and about 3 mm long and 2 mm wide. The wiry glasswort flowers between November and June, with tiny flowers less than 3 mm across which fruit when

pollinated Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, ...

. Listed as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

in New South Wales and rare in Victoria and South Australia, ''T. lylei'' is threatened by

trampling Trampling is the act of walking on something repeatedly by humans or animals. Trampling on open ground can destroy the above ground parts of many plants and can compact the soil, thereby creating a distinct microenvironment that specific species ...

and

overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature res ...

, vegetation clearing and

stochastic Stochastic (, ) refers to the property of being well described by a random probability distribution. Although stochasticity and randomness are distinct in that the former refers to a modeling approach and the latter refers to phenomena themselv ...

events.

Distribution and habitat

''Tecticornia lylei'' is an endangered species in NSW and rare in Victoria, with the numbers especially low in the once plentiful low open-shrubland in the Murray Darling Depression Bioregion. Requiring particularly saline soils to survive, it occurs on saline clay soils on the beds of small salt lakes and around the perimeter of larger salt lakes. ''T. lylei'' may also be found in somewhat saline and seasonally waterlogged localities.

Ecology

''Tecticornia lylei'' provides an important habitat for fauna in saline

ecosystems An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

. ''T. lylei'' pumps oxygen into the sediment under waterlogged conditions, improving the health of saline aquatic and riparian ecological systems. This provides habitat for fauna in saline ecosystems. Insect activity is also high around ''T. lylei'', suggesting benefit for insect communities in saline environments. ''T. lylei'' is highly adapted to saline environments.

Life history traits

The erect shrub can grow up to 1 m in height and 1.5 m wide and has slender branches with very slender branchlets, its articles cylindrical, dull mid-green and about 3 mm long and 2 mm wide. ''Tecticornia lylei'' is leafless with slender branches terminating in spikes, flowers exposed vertical to the spike and less than 3 mm across which when pollinated form fruitlets protruding from the bracts, perianth firm and pithy. Fruiting spikes shedding fruitlets encasing the

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

. Seeds are broadly

elliptic In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special type of ellipse in ...

and measure 1–1.5 mm long; teste crustaceous, reddish-brown, concentrically granular over the embryo. Tectronia Lylei

Cultivation and propagation

''Tecticornia lylei'' can be grown from tube stock, cutting or by direct seeding. Fruiting segments should be collected from the middle of January to late February . Shoots or whole plants should be harvested by hand or with a

forage harvester A forage harvesteralso known as a silage harvester, forager or chopperis a farm implement that harvests forage plants to make silage. Silage is grass, corn or hay, which has been chopped into small pieces, and compacted together in a storage silo ...

and spread on the new site. This process is most effective when new site is on lightly cultivated salt affected areas to enable plants to germinate and spread naturally.

Conservation status

''Tecticornia lylei'' is listed as an endangered species in NSW, and rare in Victoria and South Australia. ''T. lylei'' primary threat is from introduced hoofed livestock species such as cattle and sheep, which overgraze and trample the native vegetation. ''T. lylei'' is threatened by vegetation clearing to access salt deposits, mineral exploration, and sand mining. Stochastic events such as flooding and drought may bring localised extinction, while limited genetic diversity hinders the species ability to adapt to potential environmental changes.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17245305 lylei Plants described in 2007