Botanical art
Prior names
Scirpus kochii
Scirpus congruus
Common names
Slender Club-sedge
Slender Club-rush
Etymology
Isolepis, from the Greek 'isos', meaning equal and 'lepis,' meaning scale, referring to the glumes. Congrua from the Latin 'congruus', meaning agreeable.
Distribution and status
Found scattered in the central and north-western parts of South Australia growing in seasonally wet, sandy areas. Also found in Western Australia, Northern Territory, New South Wales and Victoria. Native. Rare in South Australia. Rare in the Northern Territory and Victoria. Common in the other States.
Herbarium regions: North Western, Gairdner-Torrens, Flinders Ranges, Eastern, Eyre Peninsula, Northern Lofty, Southern Lofty, South Eastern, Green Adelaide
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Alinytjara Wilurara, Eyre Peninsula, Northern and Yorke, South Australian Arid Lands, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)
Plant description
Very slender annual sedge to 5 cm; stems solitary or tufted, capillary. Leaf blades about as wide as the stems, to 2 cm long or reduced to a point; bract sub-erect or spreading, to 10 mm long, glume-like at the base. Spikelets up to 4 but usually 2 or 3, pallid or pale-brown, oblong or ovoid, very obtuse, angular, mostly 3-4 mm long, rather few-flowered; glumes not densely packed, to 1.5 mm long, the stout green keel running out into an acute erect or spreading point, the sides very thin but firm; nerveless, hyaline cellular pattern or stained with brown. Flowering July to October. Isolepis congrua is diagnosed by the acute hyaline glumes with sides more than 0.4 mm wide. Fruits are brown, long ovoid fruit-head in clusters at the end of stems. Seeds are pale-brown ovoid-triangular seed to 0.6 mm long and 0.4 mm wide, with a squarish reticulate surface. Seed embryo type is capitate.
Seed collection and propagation
Collect seeds between September and December. Collect fruits by picking off the mature heads; those turning brown and that come-off easily. Place the heads in a tray and leave to dry for one to two weeks. Then rub the heads with a rubber bung to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate any unwanted material. Be careful, as the seeds are very small. Seeds are brown and hard. 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.