Botanical art
Common names
Whorled Sand-sage
Etymology
Dicrastylis from the Greek 'dicroos' meaning forked and 'stylos' meaning a style, alluding to the deeply 2-branched style. Verticillata refers to the leaves and flowers arranged in whorls, or seemingly so.
Distribution and status
Found on the northern Eyre Peninsula and in the Murray region in South Australia, growing in mallee on deep red sand. Also found in New South Wales. Native. Common in South Australia. Uncommon in New South Wales.
Herbarium regions: Gairdner-Torrens, Eyre Peninsula, Murray
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)
Plant description
Low shrub to 65 cm high; stem grey-tomentose, with branchlets 3 per node. Leaves 3 at a node, sometimes more, sessile; narrow-linear or linear-lanceolate, obtuse, with recurved margins; to 2.2 cm long and 4 mm broad, rugose and pubescent above, grey-tomentose beneath. Flower-spike terminal, with white flowers, unequally 5-lobed arranged in verticillate clusters of 3 cymes per axil. Flowering between September and December. Fruits are white spongy ball. Seeds are woody orange ovoid seed to 2.5 mm long and 2 mm wide, covered in hairs.
Seed collection and propagation
Collect seeds between December and March. Collect mature fruits that are white and spongy. May need to collect a lot as most will not have any viable seeds. Place the fruit in a tray and leave to dry for 1 to 2 weeks. Then rub the dried fruits with a rubber bung to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate any 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 low, at 10%.
| Location | No. of seeds (weight grams) | Number of plants | Date collected | Collection number Collection location | Date stored | % Viability | Storage temperature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BGA MSB | 4,600 (7.97 g) 4,600 (7.97 g) | 50+ | 7-Feb-2006 | DJD377 Eyre Peninsula | 28-Jul-2006 | 10% | -18°C |
| BGA | 3,500 (5.98 g) | 21-Dec-2017 | Ironstone CP Eyre Peninsula | 30-Jun-2018 | 65% | -18°C |
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.