Plants of
South Australia
Melicytus angustifolius ssp. divaricatus
Violaceae
Tree violet
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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: 7

Prior names

Melicytus dentatus

Hymenanthera dentata

Hymenanthera angustifolia

Etymology

Melicytus, from the Greek 'meli', meaning honey and 'kytos', meaning hollow containers, referring to the staminal nectaries of the flowers. Angustifolius, from the Latin 'augusta' ,meaning narrow and 'folium', meaning leaf. Divaricatus, from Latin meaning to spread apart.

Distribution and status

Found in South Australia in the lower Flinders Ranges and across the Mount Lofty Ranges. A small population occurs around Naracoorte. Also found in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Native. Uncommon in South Australia. Common in the other States.
Herbarium regions: Flinders Ranges, Eyre Peninsula, Northern Lofty, Murray, Southern Lofty, South Eastern, Green Adelaide
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Northern and Yorke, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Dense branching shrub to 2 m tall, with few succulent lance-shaped leaves and long spines. Flowers are small and yellow along woody stems. Flowering between August and December. Fruits are deep blue, round fleshy fruit to 20 mm long. Seeds are dark brown ovoid seeds to 6 mm long.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between October and April. Pick by hand ripe fruits which are soft and deep blue in colour. May have to lift branches to find the fruits. Place the fruits in a bucket of water and rub by hand to remove the flesh. Wash again with clean water and drain. Then place the wet seeds on some paper towel and leave to dry. 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 three collections, the seed viability was average to high, ranging from 60% to 90%. This species has physiological dormancy that need 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
 
MSB

1,100 (21.05 g)
3020-Jan-2006DJD354
Southern Lofty
BGA3,500 (52.61 g)511-Apr-2006DJD455
South Eastern
9-Aug-200690%-18°C
BGA2,100 (28.43 g)311-Apr-2006DJD454
South Eastern
9-Aug-200660%-18°C
BGA1,050 (39 g)30+6-Apr-2010DJD1825
Southern Lofty
1-Jun-201090%-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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