Cannonball Burr
Whole
Murray Mallee Region
Cannonball Burr
Fruit Forming
 
                      
Cannonball Burr (Dissocarpus paradoxus)Class: Plants (Plantae) - Land Plants (Charophyta) - Land Plants (Equisetopsida)
Order: Betalains (Caryophyllales)
Family: Goosefoot (Chenopodiaceae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Cannonball Burr (Dissocarpus paradoxus)
This Photo:     Flower Finishing
Other name: Ball Bindyi

Thank you Dr Kym Nicolson for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found in the Murray Mallee SA, Riverland and possibly elsewhere
A small plant that was abundant in the area.
The burrs are quite large at ~12mm diameter (to the spine tips) and very distinctive; being a woolly ball.
The flowers are petalless, with just long anthers poking out of the wool.
The fruiting body then forms under the woolly ball.

Similar Species: Woolly-fruit Bluebush (Eriochiton sclerolaenoides)

Copyright © 2019-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 19-Oct-2019
This species is classed as LC (Least Concern) in the Murray Mallee, SA, by DENR (Regional Species Status Assessments, July 2010)