Plants of
South Australia
Arabidella procumbens
Brassicaceae
Creeping cress
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Regional Species Conservation Assessments per IBRA subregion.
Least concern
Near threatened
Rare
Vulnerable
Endangered
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Extinct
Data deficient
Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
Marla
Marree
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Oodnadatta
Renmark
Wudinna
Keith
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock painting: 1

Prior names

Micromystria nasturtium var. pinnatifida

Blennodia nasturtioides var. pinnatifida

Sisymbrium procumbens

Lemphoria procumbens

Blennodia procumbens

Common names

Creeping cress

Etymology

Arabidella a diminutive of 'arabis' which is a Greek word for mustard or cress. Procumbens means to lie on the ground, referring to the species prostrate habit.

Distribution and status

Found in the north-eastern part of South Australia growing on claypans and near temporary water. Also found in the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales. Native. Common in South Australia. Uncommon in the Northern Territory. Common in the other States.
Herbarium regions: Lake Eyre, Gairdner-Torrens, Flinders Ranges, Eastern, Eyre Peninsula
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Multi-stemmed, prostate herb to 15 cm long, glabrous. Basal leaves to 5 cm long, pinnate with 3-7 pairs of lobes with stem leaves reducing towards the tip. Flowers are white or yellow along a short spike. Flowering between July and October. Fruits are long, brown cylindrical pods. Seeds are tiny yellow semi-flat reniform seed to 0.6 mm long and 0.4 mm wide. Seed embryo type is bent.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between September and December. Collect pods that are maturing, drying off and turning brown, with yellow seeds inside. Place the pods in a tray and cover with paper to prevent seeds from popping out and leave to dry for a week. Then rub the pods gently 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 one collection, the seed viability was high, at 100%. 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
BGA15,300 (1.028 g)2-Sep-2008DJD1112
Lake Eyre		20-Jul-2009100%-18°C
BGA26,100 (1.54 g)9-Sep-2008DJD1086
Eastern		20-Jul-2009100%-18°C
BGA 
MSB		18,700 (0.84 g)
18,700 (0.84 g)		100+17-Oct-2016JRG486
Lake Eyre		1-Nov-201790%-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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We acknowledge the contributions of the South Australian Seed Conservation Centre, the Botanic Gardens of South Australia, and the Department for Environment and Water.