''Tetragonia implexicoma'', commonly known as bower spinach, is a species of

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

in the

Aizoaceae The Aizoaceae (), or fig-marigold family, is a large family of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing 135 genera and about 1,800 species. Several genera are commonly known as 'ice plants' or 'carpet weeds'. The Aizoaceae are also referred to a ...

, or ice-plant

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

. A similar species is ''

Tetragonia tetragonioides ''Tetragonia tetragonioides'', commonly called New Zealand spinach, warrigal greens and other local names, is a flowering plant in the fig-marigold family (Aizoaceae). It is often cultivated as a leafy vegetable. It is a widespread species, nat ...

'', however this species has larger leaves and a shorter flowering time.

Distribution and habitat

Bower spinach is found mainly in coastal regions of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and southern

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 ...

as well as on many nearby island groups. It occupies a variety of habitats from sand and shingle beaches through coastal

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

and

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

, and as exposed, salt-pruned vegetation on cliffs and stacks. It may also be found well inland, in farmland where it is grown in

barberry ''Berberis'' (), commonly known as barberry, is a large genus of deciduous and evergreen shrubs from tall, found throughout temperate and subtropical regions of the world (apart from Australia). Species diversity is greatest in South America a ...

hedges, or on

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime (mineral), lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of Science, scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcare ...

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

outcrops in dense forest. Tetragonia implexicoma habit

Description

Bower spinach is a scrambling subshrub that forms dense leafy patches of up to . The stems are long and trailing, often succulent and coloured red or pink when young, maturing to dark green to brown-black and becoming woody. The leaves are alternate, clustered and semi-succulent. Leaves are rhombic to angular-ovate, sometimes bearing coarse hairs when young. The yellow flowers are solitary, strongly scented and have 12-20 stamens; 2 styles. Flowering August to November. The fruits are long, pink to dark red, succulent berries which are eaten by birds and lizards. It is being planted on Phillip Island as a fire retardant plant.

References

implexicoma Flora of Victoria (state) Flora of Tasmania Flora of New South Wales Flora of South Australia Flora of Western Australia Flora of New Zealand Flora of the Chatham Islands Flora of the Kermadec Islands Flora of Norfolk Island Flora of Lord Howe Island Plants described in 1856 {{Aizoaceae-stub