Plants of
South Australia
Isolepis producta
Cyperaceae
Nutty Club-sedge,
Nutty Club-rush
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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

Scirpus productus

Common names

Nutty Club-sedge

Nutty Club-rush

Etymology

Isolepis, from the Greek 'isos', meaning equal and 'lepis', meaning scale, referring to the glumes. Producta, from the Latin 'productus', meaning lengthened or elongated, alluding to the shape of the seeds.

Distribution and status

From Kangaroo Island and the lower South-east in South Australia, floating in shallow water. Also found in Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Native. Very rare in South Australia. Common in the other States.
Herbarium regions: Kangaroo Island, South Eastern
NRM regions: Kangaroo Island, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Mat-forming annual or short-lived perennial sedge. Stems filiform, weak, floating; often many-noded, (similar to I. fluitans but sometimes more slender and always strongly tinged with purple, particularly on the leaf sheaths and at the margins of the glumes). Leaves very slender. Spikelet solitary, terminal on long peduncles rising from the tufts of leaves; ovoid, to 5 mm long,;glumes 6-10, nearly all containing bisexual flowers, the lowest glume always produced into a leafy point as long as or longer than the spikelet. Flowering between October and March. Isolepis producta is diagnosed by the lowest glume being equal in length to and partially covering the spikelet. Fruits are singular brown fruit-head at the end of the stems. Seeds are pale-yellow narrow ovoid-triangular seed to 1.6 mm long and 0.9 mm wide, with a fine reticulate surface. Seed embryo type is capitate.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between October and April. Collect fruits by picking off the mature heads; those turning brown and that come-off easily. Place the heads in a tray and leave to dry for one to two weeks. Then rub the heads with a rubber bung to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate any unwanted material. Be careful, as the seeds are very small. Seeds are pale yellow and hard. 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.

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

11,700 (3.16 g)
1023-Nov-2007RJB75862
South Eastern
100%
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.