Plants of
South Australia
Anthosachne scabra
Poaceae
Common Wheat-grass,
Native Wheat-grass
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Regional Species Conservation Assessments per IBRA subregion.
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Near threatened
Rare
Vulnerable
Endangered
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Data deficient
Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
Marla
Marree
Mount Gambier
Oodnadatta
Renmark
Wudinna
Keith
Yunta
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 9

Prior names

Triticum scabrum

Elymus scaber var. scaber

Triticum scaber, orth.var.

Festuca scabra, nom.illeg.

Agropyron scabrum

Elymus scabrus var. scabrus, orth.var.

Common names

Common Wheat-grass

Native Wheat-grass

Etymology

Anthosachne from the Greek 'anthos' meaning flower and 'achne' meaning scale, referring to the upper florets of the spikelet being sterile. Scaba from the Latin 'scaber' meaning rough or scaly rough, referring to the plant being covered with hard short rigid points

Distribution and status

Found in the southern part of South Australia, from the Eyre Peninsula to the lower South-east, growing in a variety of habitats and soil types. Also found in all States except in the Northern territory. Native. Common in South Australia. Common in the other States.
Herbarium regions: Nullarbor, Gairdner-Torrens, Flinders Ranges, Eastern, Eyre Peninsula, Northern Lofty, Murray, Yorke Peninsula, Southern Lofty, Kangaroo Island, South Eastern, Green Adelaide
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Alinytjara Wilurara, Eyre Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, Northern and Yorke, South Australian Arid Lands, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Tall weeping perennial grass with erect or arching culms to 120 cm tall. Leaves mostly basal with blades narrow, fiat or filiform, scabrous on the edges. Inflorescence a 25 cm spike with numerous fertile spikelets on each. Flowering between July and December. Fruits are brown spike-head containing numerous individual seeds. Seed embryo type is lateral.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between October and February. Use hands to gently strip seeds off the mature seed spike that are turning straw colour. Mature seeds will come off easily. Alternatively, you can break off the whole seed spike. Place the seeds/spike in a tray and leave to dry for two weeks. No further cleaning is required if only seed collected. If seed spikes collected, use hand to strip off the mature seeds. 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:
  Hide
LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
 
MSB

3,800 (20.54 g)
2015-Nov-2007RJB55636
Northern Lofty
85%
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.