Plants of
South Australia
Anthocercis angustifolia
Solanaceae
Narrow-leaf Ray-flower,
Rock Ray-flower
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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: 2

Common names

Narrow-leaf Ray-flower

Rock Ray-flower

Etymology

Anthocercis from the Greek 'anthos', meaning a flower and 'kerkis', meaning a ray, referring to the narrow corolla lobes. Angustifolia from the Latin 'angustus' meaning narrow and 'folius' meaning a leaf, referring to the narrow leaves of this species.

Distribution and status

Endemic to South Australia and found in the Flinders Ranges and the southern Mount Lofty Ranges growing on steep rocky slopes on clay-loam; prolific particularly after fires. Native. Rare in South Australia.
Herbarium regions: Flinders Ranges, Northern Lofty, Southern Lofty, Green Adelaide
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Northern and Yorke, South Australian Arid Lands
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

An open erect shrub to 2 m tall, covered in fine hairs. Leaves linear, rarely narrowly elliptic to obovate; sessile, to 50 mm long and 6 mm wide (juvenile leaves larger); entire, pubescent, the lower leaves glabrescent. Flowers solitary; large white to creamy-yellow with five star-like petals. Flowering between May and November. Fruits are papery brown ovoid to pear-shaped capsule to 9 mm long, containing numerous seeds. Seeds are bean-shaped brown seeds to 3 mm long and covered with honeycomb depressions. Seed embryo type is linear fully developed.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between October and January. Collect maturing capsules, those that are turning brown with hard brown seeds inside. Monitor the plants as the capsules will dry, split and disperse the seeds in a short space of time. Using of a small bag (ie. Organza bags) to enclose the developing capsules will help to increase the chances of collecting sufficient viable seeds. Place the capsules in a tray and leave to dry for a week. Then gently rub the capsules 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 two collections, the seed viability was high at 100%. This species is generally difficult to germinate, it has physiological dormancy and complex germination requirements.

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
4,500 (5.96 g)
4,500 (5.96 g)
30+10-Nov-2007TST182
Southern Lofty
19-Sep-2008100%+5°C, -18°C
BGA5,300 (7.48 g)40+22-Dec-2008KHB208
Southern Lofty
20-Jul-2009100%-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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