CAT-00081
WA samphire
Tecticornia lepidosperma
No main photo selected
Catalog fields
- Genus
- Tecticornia
- Photo
- Not recorded
- Edible
- Yes
- layout
- single
- Habitat
- Grows in slightly saline soil.
- Published
- Yes
- Food group
- Leaf vegetable
- Latin name
- Tecticornia lepidosperma
- Fruit photo
- Not recorded
- Plant title
- WA samphire
- Source URLs
- https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Tecticornia%20lepidosperma | https://tuckerbush.com.au/plants/vegetable-plants/; https://tuckerbush.com.au/wa-samphire-tecticornia-lepidosperma/; https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/77086688-1 Open source ↗ Open source 2 ↗ Open source 3 ↗ Open source 4 ↗
- Catalogue ID
- CAT-00081
- Mature width
- 100cm
- Native range
- Found in south-western W.A. and south-western S.A.
- Plant family
- Amaranthaceae
- Supplier SKU
- Not recorded
- Listing group
- Nursery-listed / regional edible
- Mature height
- 30-50cm
- Native states
- SA, WA
- Original list
- No
- Research date
- 10/10/2026
- Research notes
- Profile enriched from botanical/nursery sources. Dimensions are unpruned regional estimates where available; missing measurements remain explicit. Seasons are regional guides and vary with climate, location, cultivar and plant maturity. Drought and cultivation guidance are qualitative garden inferences, not measured ratings.
- Evidence status
- Nursery food-use source; preparation detail review pending
- Fruiting season
- Species-specific period not yet confirmed.
- Background photo
- Not recorded
- Edible component
- Young succulent shoots
- Flowering season
- Species-specific period not yet confirmed.
- Brief description
- Jointed succulent saltmarsh shrub.
- Drought tolerance
- Moderate to high once established.
- Preparation notes
- Use correctly identified green tender shoots raw or briefly cooked; woody stems are unsuitable.
- Flower description
- Minute flowers; detailed species-specific appearance needs confirmation.
- General cultivation
- General guidance (qualitative): Trial a sunny drained pot or bed; water for tender shoots.
- Botanical description
- Erect shrub to 1 m high. Branches slender erect. Articles obovoid to cylindrical, 5–10 mm long, entire, slightly glaucous. Spikes terminal, slender, cylindrical, to 50 mm long, 3.5–5 mm diam. Flowers almost free, slightly ascending; apex truncate and broadly oblong. Perianth succulent; abaxial lobe large and semicircular, overlapping lateral lobes; ovary membranous. Fruiting perianth not or scarcely exceeding bracts, succulent and eventually spongy, shrivelled on drying or firm and papery on outside; pericarp membranous and fused to perianth. Fruitlets eventually tearing away from axis exposing seed at base. Seed suborbicular, c. 1.5 mm long, white or pale fawn when dry; outer testa raised on the margin to form 5–7 concentric scale-like ribs with transverse corrugations.
- Other botanical names
- Not recorded
- Attracts birds and bugs
- Native bees and insects visit flowers; canopy shelters birds.
- Flora of Australia profile
- https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Tecticornia%20lepidosperma Open source ↗
- Fruit type and description
- Tiny one-seeded fruits within succulent flower structures; shoots are harvested.
- Flora of Australia citation
- Paul G. Wilson. Tecticornia lepidosperma. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Canberra. https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Tecticornia%20lepidosperma (accessed 2026-10-14). Copyright Commonwealth of Australia; CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). HTML formatting removed; species-level context added where noted. Open source ↗ Open source 2 ↗
- Flora of Australia retrieved
- 14/10/2026