Botanical art
Prior names
Scirpus platycarpus
Common names
Flat-fruit Club-sedge
Flat-fruit Club-rush
Etymology
Isolepis, from the Greek 'isos' meaning equal and 'lepis', meaning scale, referring to the glumes. Platycarpa, from the Greek 'platys', meaning broad and flat and 'karpos', meaning fruit.
Distribution and status
Found in the southern part of South Australia growing in moist areas. Also found in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Native. Common in South Australia. Common in the other States.
Herbarium regions: 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 Arid Lands, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)
Plant description
Small tufted annual sedge to 8 cm high. Stems setaceous; leaf blades to 3 cm long and setaceous, sometimes absent; bract sometimes longer than the cluster; similar to the leaves, to 5 mm long. Spikelets 1 or 2, often solitary; ovoid-ellipsoid, to 3.5 mm long, (similar to those of I. hookeriana but rather broader and less distinctly angled); glumes to 1.5 mm long, with spreading points, the sides somewhat opaque. Flowering between September and April. Fruits are brown fruit-head with 1-2 spikelets in clusters at the end of stems. Seeds are brown globular seed to 0.9 mm long and 0.6 mm wide, with a low and small ovoid mesh-liked surface. Seed embryo type is capitate.
Seed collection and propagation
Collect seeds between September and May. 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. From one collection, the seed viability was high, at 95%.
Location | No. of seeds (weight grams) | Number of plants | Date collected | Collection number Collection location | Date stored | % Viability | Storage temperature |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BGA | 4,800 (0.61 g) | 500 | 2-Oct-2007 | RJB75084 South Eastern | 19-Sep-2008 | 95% | -18°C |