Plants of
South Australia
Wahlenbergia multicaulis
Campanulaceae
Tadgell's Bluebell
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Regional Species Conservation Assessments per IBRA subregion.
Least concern
Near threatened
Rare
Vulnerable
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Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
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Oodnadatta
Renmark
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Keith
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 8

Prior names

Wahlenbergia simplicicaulis

Wahlenbergia tadgellii

Etymology

Wahlenbergia named by H.A Schrader in honour of Georg Göran Wahlenberg (1780-1851), a Swedish professor of botany. Multicaulis from the Latin 'multus' meaning many and the Greek 'caulis' meaning stem.

Distribution and status

Found in the higher rainfall regions in South Australia including the Mount Lofty Ranges, Kangaroo Island and the lower South-east, growing in grassy sites in various types of vegetation. Also found in Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Native. Uncommon in South Australia. Common in the other states.
Herbarium regions: Eyre Peninsula, Northern Lofty, Murray, Southern Lofty, Kangaroo Island, South Eastern, Green Adelaide
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Eyre Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Perennial tufted herbs with a fleshy rootstock. Stems to 75 cm long, branching below the flower-spikes. Leaves alternate or sometimes the lowermost opposite to 115 mm long and 10 mm wide, linear throughout or the lowermost oblanceolate, margins flat. Flowers blue, funnel-shaped with 5 lobes. Flowering between September and May. Fruits are pale brown elongated oblong capsule to 12.5 mm long. Seeds are tiny brown elliptic seed to 1 mm long and 0.3 mm wide. Seed embryo type is spatulate under-developed.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between November and May. Collect capsules that are maturing, drying and turning brown with brown seeds inside. Place the capsules in a tray and leave to dry for a week. Then rub the capsules gently with your hands to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate 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. From one collection, the seed viability was high, at 80%.

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA106,000 (2.3 g)111-Mar-2007RJB70941
Murray
19-Sep-200880%-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.