A native plant of Australia, the Ruby Saltbush (Enchylaena tomentosa) is also commonly known as barrier saltbush.
A spreading shrub (that can be sometimes straggly in looks), with semi-succulent leaves, bluish-green to grey in colour and densely covered with short hairs. The shrub can grow up to a metre in height and has an edible fruit about 5 mm across. The fruit changes colour as it ripens, from green through yellow, orange, red and black.
The ripe fruit can be picked and eaten raw, being described as salty-sweet. It is picked by the desert Aboriginal people as a snack food, although mainly eaten by children1. The indigenous groups in Central Australia have been recorded as soaking the fruit in water to make a sweetened tea.
A bird attracting plant that is usually found growing under taller trees.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Plantae
- Clade: Tracheophytes
- Clade: Angiosperms
- Clade: Eudicots
- Order: Caryophyllales
- Family: Amaranthaceae
- Genus: Enchylaena
- Species: E. tomentosa
- Binomial name: Enchylaena tomentosa
Footnote & References
- Enchylaena tomentosa (ruby saltbush), Bushfires & Bushtucker by Peter Latz, IAD Press, Alice Springs, NT, ISBN: 0-949659-96-7, p166
- Enchylaena tomentosa, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchylaena_tomentosa (last visited Apr. 6, 2021).
FloraFlora in Australia Flora Index Acacia Anigozanthos (Kangaroo Paws) Annual Yellowtop Apium prostratum subsp. prostratum var filiforme Apple Bush (Pterocaulon sphacelatum) Australian Bluebell Australian Gossypium Banksia Batswing Coral Tree Billy Buttons Birdsville Indigo Blue Pincushion Bush Banana Callistemon Callitris drummondii (Drummond’s Cypress Pine) Calothamnus quadrifidus Cape Honeysuckle Cassia fistula (Golden Shower) Cattle Bush Common Heath Crotalaria Darwinia wittwerorum (Wittwer’s Mountain Bell) Daviesia oppositifolia (Rattle-pea) Desert Oaks Drumsticks Eremophila Eucalyptus Ficus Flannel Cudweed (Actinobole uliginosum) Georges Indigo Goatshead Burr (Sclerolaena bicornis) Golden Everlasting Goodenia Gossypium Grass and Grasses Grass Trees Grevillea Grey Germander Hakea Kapok Bush (Aerva javanica) Lambertia sp Leptospermum MacDonnell Ranges Cycad Maireana scleroptera Mexican Poppy Minnie Daisy Mistletoe Family Nardoo Native Apricot Nicotiana megalosiphon subspecies sessilifolia Nuytsia floribunda Orange Spade Flower Orchidaceae Parakeelyas (Calandrinia) Pebble Bush (Stylobasium spathulatum) Perennial Yellow Top Pink Everlasting Pink Rock Wort Poached Egg Daisy Portulaca Proteaceae Ptilotus Quandong Resurrection Fern Rosy Dock Ruby Saltbush Santalum Solanum Spike Centaury Spinifex Storkbill (Erodum cygnorum) Striped Mint Bush Sturt’s Desert Pea Sturt’s Desert Rose Tall Saltbush Tangled Leschenaultia Tar Vine Tribulus eichlerianus Upside-down Plant Urodon dasyphylla Variable Daisy Waratah (Telopea) Wertabona Daisy White Cedar (Melia azedarach) White Indigo White Paper Daisy Wild Passionfruit Wild Stock Woolly-Headed Burr Daisy Woolly Bush Yellow-keeled Swainsona