Plants of
South Australia
Hyalosperma semisterile
Asteraceae
Orange Sunray
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Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
Marla
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Oodnadatta
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Wudinna
Keith
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 7

Prior names

Helipterum jessenii

Helipterum semisterile

Common names

Orange Sunray

Etymology

Hyalosperma, from the Greek 'hyalos', meaning glass and 'sperma', meaning a seed, referring to the transparent wing of the achenes. Semisterile, from Latin meaning half sterile.

Distribution and status

Found mainly in central South Australia growing on a variety of soils, such as heavy clay, silty loam, saltmarsh, and sand. Also found in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Native. Common in South Australia. Common in the other States.
Herbarium regions: Lake Eyre, Gairdner-Torrens, Flinders Ranges, Eastern, Eyre Peninsula, Northern Lofty, Murray, Yorke Peninsula, Southern Lofty, Green Adelaide
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Erect annual herb to 16 cm tall, branching at and above base; branches slender, sparsely cottony or glabrous. Leaves alternating up the stems, to 18 mm long and 1 mm wide; flattened cylindrical, sparsely hairy to hairless with blunt or pointed tips. Flower-heads cup-shaped or hemispherical borne singly at the ends of the stems, with orange to yellow papery daisy flowers. Flowering between August and October. Fruits are golden-brown papery daisy-head. Seed embryo type is spathulate.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between October and December. Collect whole plants that are drying off and turning golden-brown. Each head should have numerous tiny seeds. Place the plant in a tray for a week to dry. Then rub the heads gently with your hands to dislodge the seeds. Use a fine sieve to separate the seeds from the unwanted material. Be careful as the seeds are very small. 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. Seeds are non-dormant, viable seed should germinate readily.

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

1,000 (0.19 g)
5012-Sep-2007RJB74284
Southern Lofty
100%
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.