Plants of
South Australia
Spyridium fontis-woodii
Rhamnaceae
Woods Well Spyridium
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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
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Oodnadatta
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Prior names

Spyridium halmaturinum var. halmaturinum, partly

Etymology

Spyridium from the Greek 'spyridion' meaning a small basket; referring to the flowerheads which are circled by leafy bracts. Fontis-woodsii from the Latin 'fons' meaning well or spring and the name of the neighbouring locality Woods Well (named by Thomas Burr, Deputy Surveyor-General of South Australia after a ‘Mr Wood’) where the type specimen was collected from.

Distribution and status

Endemic to South Australia and currently known from a single extant roadside population, growing on shallow sands over calcrete with Eucalyptus diversifolia and heath plants. Native. Very rare in South Australia.
Herbarium region: South Eastern
NRM region: South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Erect perennial shrub to 1.8 m with pubescent stems. Leaves to 15 mm long, alternate, broadly obovate, notched at the apex, stellate or bifid hairs, green except for the 4-5 white-velvety floral leaves. Inflorescence a dense cymose with funnel shaped, white flowers approximately 3mm long. Fruits are dark brown ellipsoid to obovoid fruit to 2.2 mm long and 1.9mm wide, consisting of 3 papery fruitlets. Seeds are light brown, mottled, flattened obovoid seed to 1.5 mm long and 1.5 mm wide. Seed embryo type is spatulate fully developed.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between January and February. Collect fruit heads that are darkening and have a fluffy appearance. Rub the flower parts in your palm to see if there is any seed, which should be brown and hard. Place the heads in a tray and leave to dry for a week. Then rub the heads with your hands or a rubber bung 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 average, at 74%. This species has physical dormancy that can be overcome by nicking or scratching the seed coat with a scalpel or sand paper or by pouring hot (boiling) water over the seeds.

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

1,200 (0.745 g)
30+30-Jan-2006HPV2853
South Eastern
BGA750 (0.33 g)1030-Jan-2013DJD2612
South Eastern
27-Feb-201474%-18°C
BGA410 (0.25 g)616-Oct-2018DJD2612
South Eastern
24-Jun-2020N/C-18°C
BGA4,000 (2.180 g)1014-Apr-2020TST1451
South Eastern
28-Jun-202180%-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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