Plants of
South Australia
Calytrix tetragona
Myrtaceae
Common Fringe-myrtle
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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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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 16

Prior names

Calycothrix schlechtendalii

Calycothrix rosea

Calycothrix muelleri

Calycothrix monticola

Calycothrix leucantha

Calycothrix behriana

Calycothrix scabra var. minor

Etymology

Calytrix from the Greek 'kalyx' meaning calyx and 'thrix' meaning hair, referring to the awns on the sepals. Tetragona from the Greek 'tetra' meaning four and 'gonia' meaning angle, referring to the leaf blade.

Distribution and status

Found in the southern part of South Australia, growing in a wide range of habitats including heath, mallee and open forest. Also found in Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Native. Common in South Australia. Common in the other States.
Herbarium regions: Flinders Ranges, Eastern, 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

Shrub to 3 m high with pubescent to glabrous branchlets. Leaves pubescent to glabrous, linear to ovate, to 12 mm long and 1 mm wide; transverse section depressed-angular-obovate to very broadly obtriangular; margins often finely toothed or ciliate. Flowers white to pink with a long base. Flowering between August and October. Fruits are thin brown fruit with persistent calyx and awns. Seeds are a cylindrical seed sits in the thin tubular section of the fruit. The ridged seed coat is straw coloured. Seed embryo type is spatulate fully developed.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between November and January. Collect heads by hand when they are brown and slightly fat at the base. This should contain small hard seed. No cleaning is required if only the fruits were collected. If collected with other material, 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. Seed set and seed viability can be low. Seed viability can be low. This species has physiological dormancy that needs to be overcome for the seed to germinate.

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
2,700 (5.34 g)
2,700 (5.34 g)
100+1-Dec-2004DJD57
South Eastern
31-Mar-200644%-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.
Germination table:
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