Plants of
South Australia
Brachyscome dichromosomatica var. dichromosomatica
Asteraceae
Purple Hard-head Daisy,
Large Hard-head Daisy
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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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Prior names

Brachycome lineariloba

Brachycome dichromosomatica var. dichromosomatica

Common names

Purple Hard-head Daisy

Large Hard-head Daisy

Etymology

Brachyscome from the Greek 'brachys' meaning short and 'kome' meaning hair; referring to tuft of short bristles or hairs of the pappus. Dichromosomatic meaning having two chromosomes.

Distribution and status

Endemic to South Australia and found in the Flinders Ranges and Lake Torrens region, growing saltbush, arid low shrubland and on rocky outcrops. Native. Common in South Australia.
Herbarium regions: Lake Eyre, Gairdner-Torrens, Flinders Ranges, Eyre Peninsula
NRM regions: Eyre Peninsula, Northern and Yorke, South Australian Arid Lands
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Annual herb to 25 cm high. Leaves basal and near-basal, not forming a rosette, pinnatisect with 5-9 linear obtuse segments, 3-8 cm long, glabrous. Yellow daisy flower appearing in June to September. Brachyscome dichromosomatica var. dichromosomatica differ from B. dichromosomatica var. alba by having pale blue or mauve ray corolla, at least on the under surface (white ray corolla in B. dichromosomatica var. alba). Fruits are dense brown daisy-heads. Seeds are brown-black wedge-shaped seed 3 mm long and 1 mm wide, with dense long white hairs along the margin. Seed embryo type is spatulate fully developed.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between August and December. Pick heads that are maturing, drying off, with brown seeds. Place the seed-heads in a tray and leave to dry for a week. Then gently rub the heads with a rubber bung 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
BGA18,000 (12.58 g)100+23-Nov-2010KHB530
Flinders Ranges
1-Jan-2012100%-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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