''Elatostema reticulatum'', commonly known as rainforest spinach, is a plant in the nettle family

Urticaceae The Urticaceae are a family, the nettle family, of flowering plants. The family name comes from the genus ''Urtica''. The Urticaceae include a number of well-known and useful plants, including nettles in the genus ''Urtica'', ramie (''Boehmeria ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to eastern areas of Queensland and New South Wales. It is a course straggly herb growing to high, and may form dense mats on the forest floor. It prefers wet shaded areas in

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

and

wet sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short Internode (botany), internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or ...

forest, and is often found in and beside streams as well as on wet rock faces. The natural range of the plant is from near

Batemans Bay Batemans Bay is a town in the South Coast region of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Batemans Bay is administered by the Eurobodalla Shire council. The town is situated on the shores of an estuary formed where the Clyde River meets the ...

in the south to the ranges and tablelands near

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

in the north. This species was first described in 1854 by the English-French botanist

Hugh Algernon Weddell Hugh Algernon Weddell (22 June 1819 – 22 July 1877) was a physician and botanist, specialising in South American flora. Weddell was born at Birches House, Painswick near Gloucester, England, but was raised in France and educated at th ...

, who published his paper in the journal ''Annales des Sciences Naturelles''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''reticulatum'' is a reference to the prominent reticulate venation of the leaves. Joan Cribb suggests the stems and young leaves are edible, and taste better than

spinach Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to Central Asia, Central and Western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common vegetable consumed eit ...

Gallery

File:Elatostema reticulatum 251931186.jpg, Habit File:Elatostema reticulatum 251931474.jpg, Flowers File:Elatostema reticulatum 252298742.jpg, Foliage and flowers

References

External links

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View a map
of historical sightings of this species at the

Australasian Virtual Herbarium The ''Australasian Virtual Herbarium'' (AVH) is an online resource that allows access to plant specimen data held by various Australian and New Zealand herbaria. It is part of the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), and was formed by the amalgama ...

View observations
of this species on

iNaturalist iNaturalist is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe. iNaturalist may be accessed via its web ...

View images
of this species on Flickriver {{Taxonbar, from=Q15611935 reticulatum Rosales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Plants described in 1854 Taxa named by Hugh Algernon Weddell Endemic flora of Australia