Plants of
South Australia
Brachyscome rara
Asteraceae
Coongie Daisy,
Rare Daisy
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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

Brachyscome basaltica, (excluding var. gracilis), partl

Brachycome coongiensis

Brachycome rara

Common names

Coongie Daisy

Rare Daisy

Etymology

Brachyscome from the Greek 'brachys' meaning short and 'kome' meaning hair, referring to the tuft of short bristles or hairs of the pappus. Rara from the Latin 'raris' meaning rare or uncommon, referring to the distribution of the species.

Distribution and status

Found in the far north-east corner in South Australia, growing in the cracking clay of floodplains of the Cooper creek catchment with mostly ephemeral herbs and grasses and chenopod shrubs. Also found in Queensland. Native. Rare in South Australia. Rare in Queensland.
Herbarium region: Lake Eyre
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Annual herb to 40 cm high with ascending to erect hairless branches. Leaves above the base, entire but the margins sometimes appearing somewhat undulate. Basal leaves commonly oblanceolate or linear-oblanceolate and tapering to the base to 50 mm long and 14 mm wide. Flowers white or pale mauve daisy appearing in spring to autumn, depending on seasonal conditions. Fruits are brown daisy-heads. Seeds are pale-brown ovoid to pyramid-shaped seed to 1.5 mm long and 1 mm wide, spongy-looking and covered in wrinkles. Seed embryo type is spatulate fully developed.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between October and April. Pick heads that are maturing, drying off, with brown seeds that dislodge easily. Place the seed-heads in a tray and leave to dry for a week. Then gently rub the heads 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 90%. This species may have physiological dormancy that needs to be overcome for the seed to germinate.Germinates quickest under spring/autumn conditions. Requires an alternating day/night temperature, rather than static temperatures.

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

24,600 (3.07 g)
200+26-Sep-2007DJD867
Lake Eyre
95%
BGA10,700 (1.67 g)100+10-Oct-2007DJD932
Lake Eyre
19-Sep-200895%-18°C
BGA4,700 (0.61 g)1-Jul-2008DJD932
Lake Eyre
2-May-201795%-18°C
BGA5,800 (0.7 g)30+20-Oct-2016DJD3528
Lake Eyre
1-Nov-201790%+5°C, -18°C, -80°C
BGA15,400 (1.85 g)200+7-Sep-2018DJD3776
Lake Eyre
24-Apr-201995%-18°C, -80°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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