African Boxthorn
Thought was Sweet Bursaria
Ellura
Shrubby Twinleaf
Drying (yellow)
 
                      
Shrubby Twinleaf (Roepera aurantiaca)Class: Plants (Plantae) - Land Plants (Charophyta) - Land Plants (Equisetopsida)
Order: Twinleaves (Zygophyllales)
Family: Caltrop (Zygophyllaceae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Shrubby Twinleaf (Roepera aurantiaca)
This Photo:     Flowering
Synonym: Zygophyllum aurantiacum
Other names: Biarpiti or Native Hop

Thank you Tony and Jenny Dominelli for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Riverland and elsewhere
A hardy plant that has beautiful yellow flowers, with 4 petals.
Twinleaf refers to the fact the leaves always branch off, in the middle, into 2 leaflets.
Leaves are dark green and succulent, but much more cylindrical than the pointed twinleaf.
It has large, winged, pale green fruit.

Biarpiti grub (Endoxyla biarpiti) larvae feed on the roots of this plant. The aboriginal name of this plant is Biarpiti, ergo Biarpiti grubs.

There is a very similar species that is hard to differentiate in photo's; Climbing Twinleaf (Roepera eremaea). The fruit is very similar shape to these. However, the flowers are smaller and the mature fruit is similar in size to the flower. With Roepera aurantiaca the mature fruit becomes considerably larger than the flower.

Copyright © 2012-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 01-Aug-2012
This species is classed as LC (Least Concern) in the Murray Mallee, SA, by DENR (Regional Species Status Assessments, July 2010)