''Chenopodium nutans'' (Syn ''Einadia nutans,'' ''Rhagodia nutans''), known by its common name of climbing saltbush or nodding saltbush, is a climbing

groundcover Groundcover or ground cover is any plant that grows low over an area of ground, which protects the topsoil from erosion and drought. In a terrestrial ecosystem, the ground cover forms the layer of vegetation below the shrub layer known as the ...

native to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Plants form a blanket on the surface, climbing over logs and up trees to a height of around 1 metre. Each plant grows to around one metre in diameter. The small leaves are semi-

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 ...

, and have a distinctive

arrowhead An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, or sometimes for special purposes such as signaling. ...

shape. They grow along long, vine-like branches spreading out form the centre of the plant. Both the leaves and the branches are of a light

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

colour. Flowers are inconspicuous green balls, which form on top of terminal spikes during summer. These transform into very conspicuous, tiny, bright-red

berries A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone fruit, stone or pit (fruit), pit although many wikt:pip#Etymology 2, pips or seeds may be p ...

during early autumn.

Human uses

The plant was boiled along with other species of

saltbush Saltbush is a vernacular plant name that most often refers to ''Atriplex'', a genus of about 250 plants distributed worldwide from subtropical to subarctic regions. ''Atriplex'' species are native to Australia, North and South America, and Eurasia. ...

for use as a greens substitute by early

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an settlers in the

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

region. The plant is easily propagated, making it a particularly attractive and useful plant for

revegetation Revegetation is the process of replanting and rebuilding the soil of disturbed land. This may be a natural process produced by plant colonization and succession, manmade rewilding projects, accelerated process designed to repair damage to a la ...

projects. It has recently been enjoying increasing popularity as a garden plant, for its low maintenance, low water usage properties.

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=Q5349607 nutans Caryophyllales of Australia