Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

Nitre Bush  Family: Zygophyllaceae, (also called Dillon)

The distribution of this plant is an an enigma. The genius occurs in a band across North Africa, which connects, via Arbia, to a band across central Eurasia. Its only Southern Hemisphere occurrence is in Australia, in a band from western parts of the eastern states to the south coast and across to the West Australian coast.

Australia's nitre bush, or dillon, Nitraria billardieri, is a long-lived perennial, growing to a height of  0.5 to 2 m. It grows on usually saline clays, loams and sands. It is an opportunistic plant, taking advantage of areas of overgrazes chenopod shrubland. This has allowed it to spread along all the major stock routes across arid southern Australia. In very arid areas it stabilises dunes, providing feed for domestic stock in droughts.

In Western Australia is it restricted to coastal habitats and off-shore islands. It grows up tot he Great Divide in the southern half of Australia. It grows in the area around Lake Eyre and on the Riverine Plain in New South Wales.  

Sources & Further reading

Mary E White, After the Greening, The Browning of Australia, Kangaroo Press, 1994

 

Australia's Fossil Pollen Record