Botanical art
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.
Location | No. of seeds (weight grams) | Number of plants | Date collected | Collection number Collection location | Date stored | % Viability | Storage temperature |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BGA MSB | 1,585 (0.2 g) 1,585 (0.2 g) | 8-Nov-2005 | MKJ107 Gairdner-Torrens | 1-Aug-2007 | 40% | -18°C | |
BGA | 2,600 (0.52 g) | 18-Sep-2009 | TST767 Gairdner-Torrens | 1-Jan-2012 | 90% | -18°C |