Plants of
South Australia
Triglochin striata
Juncaginaceae
Streaked Arrowgrass
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Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
Marla
Marree
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Oodnadatta
Renmark
Wudinna
Keith
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 6

Prior names

Triglochin striatum, orth.var.

Triglochin striatum, orth.var.

Triglochin decipiens

Triglochin flaccida

Etymology

Triglochin from the Greek 'treis' meaning three and 'glochis' meaning a point; referring to its three-sided carpels. Striata from Latin meaning striped; referring to the streak on the back of the fertile carpels.

Distribution and status

Found in the southern part of South Australia, growing mainly along the coast in periodically inundated salt marshes, swamps, lakes, river edges and mangroves in salt and fresh water. Also found in all states except in the Northern Territory (and New Zealand, the Americas and South Africa). Native. Common in South Australia. Common in the other states.
Herbarium regions: Lake Eyre, Flinders Ranges, Eyre Peninsula, Northern Lofty, Murray, Yorke Peninsula, Southern Lofty, Kangaroo Island, South Eastern, Green Adelaide
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Eyre Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, Northern and Yorke, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Slender rhizomatous perennial herb to 37 cm high. Leaves forming tufts spaced along the rhizome, either terete or flat and strap-like, to 300 mm long and 3 mm wide, sheathed at the base with an obvious ligule at the top of the sheath to 5 mm long. Inflorescence an erect spike to 25 cm long, fruiting part at the top to 18 cm long with 20–200 fruits. Fruits are straw-coloured almost globular fruit to 2 mm long, on stalk to 3 mm long with six seed segments (carpels), 3 fertile alternating with 3 undeveloped sterile ones. Seeds are straw-coloured wedge-shaped seed to 2 mm long and 1.5 mm wide, with 3-ridged dorsally when dry, sterile seed segments remaining attached to the stalk when fertile ones have fallen. Seed embryo type is linear.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between August and May. Collect mature fruits either by breaking off individual spikes or by removing plants that are drying off with fruits that are straw-colour and seed segments coming apart easily. Place the fruit spikes in a tray and leave to dry for 1 to 2 weeks. Then rub the dried fruit spikes with a rubber bung to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate any 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 two collections, the seed viability were average to high, ranging form 80% to 90%.

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA 
MSB
15,500 (5.18 g)
15,500 (5.18 g)
4019-Jan-2005DJD98
South Eastern
28-Mar-200690%-18°C
BGA7,400 (2.22 g)16-Dec-2006RJB70657
Murray
1-Aug-200780%-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.