Plants of
South Australia
Brachyscome trachycarpa
Asteraceae
Inland Daisy,
Smooth Daisy
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Regional Species Conservation Assessments per IBRA subregion.
Least concern
Near threatened
Rare
Vulnerable
Endangered
Critically endangered
Extinct
Data deficient
Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
Marla
Marree
Mount Gambier
Oodnadatta
Renmark
Wudinna
Keith
Yunta
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 3

Prior names

Brachycome trachycarpa

Common names

Inland Daisy

Smooth Daisy

Etymology

Brachyscome from the Greek 'brachys' meaning short and 'kome' meaning hair, referring to the tuft of short bristles or hairs of the pappus. Trachycarpa from the Greek 'trachys' meaning rough and 'carpos' meaning fruit.

Distribution and status

Found across the central part of South Australia from the Western Australia border to the New South Wales border, growing in mallee and woodland, on sandy soils and among rocks. Also found in Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Native. Common in South Australia. Rare in Victoria. Uncommon in Western Australia. Common in the other States.
Herbarium regions: North Western, Nullarbor, Gairdner-Torrens, Flinders Ranges, Eyre Peninsula, Northern Lofty, Murray
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Perennial herb or undershrub to 40 cm high with erect, much branched, hairless, ribbed stems produced annually from a woody stock. Leaves all along the stem, sessile, linear to narrowly oblanceolate, acute, entire or lobed with few linear lateral lobes, to 3.5 cm long and 1.5 mm wide, hairless. Flowers white to lilac appearing through the year, depending on seasonal conditions. Fruits are small brown daisy-heads. Seeds are black ovoid seed to 2.5 mm long and 1 mm wide, covered with scattered hairs. Seed embryo type is spatulate fully developed.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between January and December. Pick heads that are maturing, drying off, with brown seeds that dislodge easily. Place the seed-heads in a tray and leave to dry for a week. Then gently rub the heads by hand to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate the unwanted material. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place. From one collection, the seed viability was average, at 40%. This species may have physiological dormancy that needs to be overcome for the seed to germinate.

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA 
MSB
1,585 (0.2 g)
1,585 (0.2 g)
8-Nov-2005MKJ107
Gairdner-Torrens
1-Aug-200740%-18°C
BGA2,600 (0.52 g)18-Sep-2009TST767
Gairdner-Torrens
1-Jan-201290%-18°C
Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.
Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.
Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.
% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.