Plants of
South Australia
Gonocarpus humilis
Haloragaceae
Shade Raspwort
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Regional Species Conservation Assessments per IBRA subregion.
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Vulnerable
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Extinct
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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: 6

Prior names

Haloragis teucrioides, partly

Etymology

Gonocarpus from the Greek 'gonia' meaning angle, corner and 'carpos' meaning fruit, referring to its ribbed fruits. Humilis means dwarf, small, referring to the small habit, compared to the other species.

Distribution and status

Found in the lower South-east in South Australia, growing in cool, damp places. Also found in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Native. Rare in South Australia. Common in the other States.
Herbarium region: South Eastern
NRM region: South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Prostrate or semi-prostrate perennial herb to 30 cm high with weakly 4-ribbed, hairy stems to 70 cm long. Leaves decussate, opposite, ovate, to 20 mm long and 12 mm wide; densely hairy, short stalk and toothed margin. Inflorescence a leafy-spike at the tip of stems, with numerous yellow-green flowers. Flowering between October and December. Fruits are small silver-grey to purplish ovoid fruit to 1.5 mm long and 1 mm wide, with 8-ribbed and 3 calluses between the ribs, scabrous surface. Seeds are considered the same as the fruit.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between November and February. Collect maturing fruits, those that are fat and turning grey-purple, by running your hands along the fruit-spikes. Place the fruit in a tray and leave to dry for 1 to 2 weeks. No further cleaning is required if only fruits were collected. If collected with other material, 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 average, at 80%.

Seeds stored:
  Hide
LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA 
MSB
4,500 (2.08 g)
4,500 (2.08 g)
1023-Nov-2007RJB75899
South Eastern
19-Sep-200880%+5°C, -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.