Plants of
South Australia
Phyllanthus fuernrohrii
Euphorbiaceae
Sand Spurge
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Regional Species Conservation Assessments per IBRA subregion.
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Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
Marla
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Oodnadatta
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Keith
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 2

Etymology

Phyllanthus from the Greek 'phyllon' meaning a leaf and 'anthos' meaning a flower; referring to some foreign species where the flowers grow on the edges of dilated leaf-like branchlets. Fuernrohrii named after August Emanuel Fürnrohr (1804–1861), a German botanist and editor of the journal Flora oder Botanische Zeitung.

Distribution and status

Found scattered across the eastern side of South Australia, north of the Murray, growing on sandy soil. Also found in all mainland states except in Victoria. Native. Common in South Australia.
Herbarium regions: Lake Eyre, Nullarbor, Gairdner-Torrens, Flinders Ranges, Eastern, Eyre Peninsula, Murray
NRM regions: Alinytjara Wilurara, Eyre Peninsula, South Australian Arid Lands, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Many-stemmed perennial subshrub to 40 cm high, covered in minute spreading white hairs. Leaves broad-obovate or obovate to oblong, to 29 mm long and 10 mm wide, apex obtuse. Male inflorescence 1 or 2 together on peduncles to 3 mm long with yellow-green sometimes tinged red flowers. Female inflorescence on slender peduncles to 9 mm long, solitary or with male flowers. Flowers throughout the year dependence on rainfall. Fruits are yellow-green depressed-globular capsule to 6 mm diameter, 3-lobed, hairy. Seed embryo type is spatulate fully developed.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between January and December. Collect individually or break off short fruiting stems with fat capsules with hard dark seed. Green capsules can be collected if the seeds are dark and hard. Place the capsules in a tray and leave to dry for one to two weeks. Then gently rub the capsules with a rubber bung to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieves 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.

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA6,800 (14.27 g)60+20-Sep-2016TST1310
Lake Eyre
1-Nov-201785%-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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