Plants of
South Australia
Pauridia glabella var. glabella
Hypoxidaceae
Tiny Yellow-star,
Tiny Star
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Regional Species Conservation Assessments per IBRA subregion.
Least concern
Near threatened
Rare
Vulnerable
Endangered
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Extinct
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: 4

Prior names

Hypoxis glabella var. glabella

Hypoxis hookeri

Hypoxis pusilla, nom.illeg.

Common names

Tiny Yellow-star

Tiny Star

Etymology

Pauridia from the Greek 'pauros' or 'pauron' meaning small, referring to the small habit of some species in the genus (formerly Hypoxis, from the Greek 'hypo' meaning beneath and 'oxys 'meaning sharp and applied by Linnaeus in the sense of "acute beneath"; referring to the fruit capsule which is contracted at the base). Glabella from the Latin 'glaber' meaning smooth or hairless.

Distribution and status

Found across the southern part of South Australia growing in grassland, grassy woodland and in ephemeral herb fields. Also found in Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Native. Common in South Australia. Common in the other States.
Herbarium regions: Lake Eyre, Nullarbor, 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

Glabrous herbs to 25 cm high growing each year from an underground corm (to 1 cm). Leaves linear, to 25 cm long and 1 mm wide, with a channel on the inside. Inflorescence, 1�4 stalks to 20 cm long, with 1 or 2 yellow flowers per inflorescence, to 7 mm wide. Flowering between July and September. Fruits are brown ellipsoid capsule to 7 mm long, containing numerous tiny black seeds. Seeds are very tiny round black seed to 0.6 mm long and covered in small dimples. Seed embryo type is linear underdeveloped.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between September and November. Collect mature capsules, those drying off and turning brown with black seeds inside. Slightly greener capsules can be collected if the seeds inside are fat, hard and black. Place the capsules in a tray and leave to dry for 1-2 weeks depending on the the stage of the capsules. Then rub the capsules with your fingers 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 two collections, the seed viability was high, ranging from 85% to 95%.

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)		Number
of plants		Date
collected		Collection number
Collection location		Date
stored		% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA4,700 (0.55 g)100+9-Sep-2009DJD1550
Flinders Ranges		1-Jun-201085%-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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We acknowledge the contributions of the South Australian Seed Conservation Centre, the Botanic Gardens of South Australia, and the Department for Environment and Water.