Botanical art
Prior names
Leucophyta citrea
Common names
Pale Beauty-heads
Yellow Poverty Weed
Etymology
Calocephalus from the Greek 'kalos' meaning beautiful and 'kephale' meaning a head, referring to the colourful compound heads. Sonderi named after Dr. Otto Sonder (1812-1881), a German pharmacist, botanist at RBG Kew and editor of Flora Capensis.
Distribution and status
Found along the Murray River in South Australia from Waikerie to the border growing in grassland or open woodland on sandy to clay soils. Also found in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Native. Rare in South Australia. Rare in Queensland. Common in the other States.
Herbarium region: Murray
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)
Plant description
Annual herb with erect or ascending branches, to 50 cm high, woolly, grey to silvery. Leaves mostly alternate, linear to lanceolate, to 3 cm long and 2 mm wide, tomentose. Daisy heads broadly ovoid to spheroid, broadly ellipsoid, pale yellow or white in some forms. Flowering between October and March. Fruits are dense round pale yellow head. Seeds are three-sided brown seed to 0.7 mm long and 0.5 mm wide with a tuberculate surface. Seed embryo type is spatulate.
Seed collection and propagation
Collect seeds between October and May. Collect heads that are matured, pale yellow, a bit spongy and contain brown seeds. Place the heads in a tray for one to two week to dry. Then rub the heads gently with your hands to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate any unwanted material. Viable seeds will be small and brown. 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, ranging from 95% to 100%. Seeds are non-dormant, viable seed should germinate readily. Germination 100% on 1% agar, incubated at a constant 20°C, 8/16 dark/light. See http://data.kew.org/sid
| Location | No. of seeds (weight grams) | Number of plants | Date collected | Collection number Collection location | Date stored | % Viability | Storage temperature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BGA MSB | 66,000 (4.55 g) 66,000 (4.55 g) | 100+ | 17-May-2006 | PJA125 Murray | 14-Sep-2006 | 95% | +5°C, -18°C |
| BGA | 68,800 (4.96 g) | 50+ | 12-Oct-2012 | DJD2406 Murray | 27-Feb-2014 | 100% | +5°C, -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.