Short-leaf Bluebush

Maireana brevifolia is a bushy, erect or rounded shrub or short-lived perennial plant that grows to a height of 0.2–1 m (7.9 in – 3 ft 3.4 in) and has thin branches, sparsely covered with woolly hairs. Its leaves are egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base to slender spindle-shaped, 2–5 mm (0.079–0.197 in) long, fleshy and glabrous. The flowers are bisexual and arranged singly and mostly glabrous. The fruiting perianth is glabrous, thin-walled and hemispherical, about 2 mm (0.079 in) in diameter with a faintly ten-ribbed tube and five papery, fan-shaped wings up to 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) long.

Maireana brevifolia grows in heavy, winter-wet and sometimes saline soils in the south-west of Western Australia, the banks of the upper Finke River in the south of the Northern Territory, the south-east of South Australia, Queensland, inland New South Wales and Victoria. It is one of the first species to appear in disturbed saline habitats. Cotton bush is also naturalised in South Africa, the Middle East and the Canary Islands.

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