Plants of
South Australia
Craspedia haplorrhiza
Asteraceae
Plains Billy-buttons,
Billy-buttons,
Bachelor Buttons
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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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Prior names

Craspedia uniflora

Craspedia richea, nom.illeg., partly

Craspedia glauca, partly

Common names

Plains Billy-buttons

Billy-buttons

Bachelor Buttons

Etymology

Craspedia from the Greek 'kraspedon' meaning a hem or border, referring to the woolly fringes on the leaves of the type species or the feathery pappus of some species. Haplorrhiza from the Greek 'haploos' meaning single and 'rhiza' meaning root.

Distribution and status

Found in the southern Flinders Ranges, Mount Lofty Ranges and along the Murray in South Australia, growing on heavy soils on floodplains. Also found in Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Native. Uncommon in South Australia. Rare in Western Australia and Queensland. Uncommon in Victoria. Common in New South Wales.
Herbarium regions: Flinders Ranges, Northern Lofty, Murray
NRM regions: Northern and Yorke, South Australian Arid Lands, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Erect annual herb to 15 cm high. Leaves basal and cauline; spathulate to oblanceolate to 8 cm long and 12 mm wide; pale green, with glandular hairs and multi-septate hairs and woolly margin. Flower-heads solitary, globular or depressed-globular to 4 cm in diameter, yellow. Flowering between July and December. Fruits are yellow-white, globular daisy-head. Seeds are brown ovoid seed to 2.5 mm long and 1 mm wide, covered in white hairs. Seed embryo type is spatulate fully developed.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between October and January. Collect heads that are drying off, fluffy and turning yellow-white with hard brown seeds. Pick off whole heads or pluck off mature seeds with your fingers. Place the heads in a tray and leave to dry for one to two weeks. Then rub the heads gently 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 high, at 98%. Seeds are non-dormant, viable seed should germinate readily.

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
 
MSB

2,700 (2.42 g)
20-301-Nov-2006RJB70175
Murray
BGA33,000 (12.5 g)50+20-Oct-2011DJD2300
Murray
1-Nov-201298%-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.
Germination table:
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