Botanical art
Prior names
Trianthema turgidifolia
Trianthema maidenii
Tetragonia amplexicoma
Tetragonella implexicoma
Common names
Bower Spinach
Etymology
Tetragonia from the Greek 'tetra' meaning four and 'gonia' meaning angle; alluding to the 4-angled fruit of some species. Implexicoma from the Latin 'implexus' meaning intertwined and 'kome' meaning hair; alluding to the hairs on the plant.
Distribution and status
Found along the coast of South Australia. Also found in Western Australia, 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
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)
Plant description
Prostrate undershrub or the tomentose stems or branches climbing on adjoining shrubs. Leaves thick, warty, ovate or lanceolate to almost linear, often clustered, to 4 cm long. Flowers on usually slender peduncles to 20 mm long and often hairy. Flowers yellow inside, glabrous or hairy outside. Flowers throughout the year. Fruits are depressed-globular orange or red fleshy fruit to 5 mm diameter, turning blackish when matured, crowned by the persistent perianth lobes. Seeds are pale brown woody, three sided seed to 4 mm long and 4.2 mm wide. Seed embryo type is peripheral.
Seed collection and propagation
Collect seeds between January and December. Collect fruits that are maturing, turning orange, red or black and contain a hard woody seed inside. Place the berries in a bucket of water and rub the flesh off with your hands. Drain the water and wash again if required to remove all the flesh. Then spread 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 one collection, the seed viability was high, at 100%. This species has physical dormancy that needs to be overcome for the seed to germinate.
| Location | No. of seeds (weight grams) | Number of plants | Date collected | Collection number Collection location | Date stored | % Viability | Storage temperature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSB | 1,000 (18.36 g) | 50-60 | 15-Nov-2005 | MKJ135 Southern Lofty | |||
| BGA MSB | 1,000 (17.45 g) 1,000 (17.45 g) | 40 | 2-Dec-2005 | DJD276 South Eastern | 28-Jul-2006 | 100% | -18°C |
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.