Botanical art
Prior names
Bothriochloa decipiens
Bothriochloa ambigua
Andropogon pertusus
Andropogon macer
Etymology
Bothriochloa from the Greek 'bothrion' meaning little furrow or pit and 'chloe' meaning grass, referring to the distinctive discoloured groove in the joints. Macra from the Greek 'macros' meaning large.
Distribution and status
Found mainly in the southern part of South Australia south of Port Augusta but with a few scattered records further north in grasslands and grassy woodland communities but often in degraded sites. Also found in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Native. Uncommon in South Australia. Uncommon in Tasmania and Queensland,. Common in the other States.
Herbarium regions: Flinders Ranges, Eastern, Eyre Peninsula, Northern Lofty, Murray, Yorke Peninsula, Southern Lofty, South Eastern, Green Adelaide
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Northern and Yorke, South Australian Arid Lands, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)
Plant description
Perennial grass, glabrous except for the inflorescence, with slender stems, usually reddish-purple to 80 cm high. Leaf blades flat to 20cm long, approximately 3 mm wide; sparsely hairy, green, sometimes with maroon colouring at the tips. Inflorescence a simple panicle to 8cm long with racemes to 6 cm long. Flowering between December and April. Fruits are lower glume loosely hairy or rarely glabrous, usually with a pit; upper glume slightly smaller, smooth. Lower lemma lanceolate-oblong to ovate to lanceolate, jagged at the apex, about 75% as long as the glumes. Fertile lemma stipe-like and half the length of glumes. Awn to 2.5 cm long, brown, geniculate. Seeds are yellow-brown grain to 2.5 mm long Seed embryo type is lateral.
Seed collection and propagation
Collect seeds between December and March. Collect seed when the grass stems are reddish-purple in colour and when spikelets at the tips of the seed heads are just beginning to fall off. Use hands to gently strip seeds off the mature seed spike. Mature seeds will come off easily. Alternatively, break off the whole seed spike. Place the seeds/spike in a tray and leave to dry for two weeks. No further cleaning is required if only seed collected. If seed spikes collected, use hand to strip off the mature seeds. 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. Seed viability is usually high.
| Location | No. of seeds (weight grams) | Number of plants | Date collected | Collection number Collection location | Date stored | % Viability | Storage temperature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSB | 3,950 (9.09 g) | 50 | 18-Jan-2007 | RJB71212 Northern Lofty | |||
| BGA | 6,700 (13.2 g) | 200+ | 10-Feb-2011 | DJD2125 South Eastern | 1-Jan-2012 | 70% | -18°C |
| BGA | 5,400 (8,26 g) | 50+ | 8-Mar-2017 | DJD3643 Southern Lofty | 1-Nov-2017 | 45% | -18°C |
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.