Plants of
South Australia
Glinus lotoides
Molluginaceae
Hairy Carpet-weed
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 7

Prior names

Mollugo hirta

Mollugo glinus, nom.illeg.

Common names

Hairy Carpet-weed

Etymology

Glinus from the Greek 'glinos' meaning a plant with sweet sap. May have been a reference to maple. Lotoides means resembling the genus Lotus, the ancient Greek name for various legumes.

Distribution and status

Found in north, north-eastern and eastern South Australia growing on the floodplains of the River Murray and northern rangelands. Also found in all mainland States. Native. Common in South Australia. Common in the other States.
Herbarium regions: North Western, Lake Eyre, Gairdner-Torrens, Flinders Ranges, Eastern, Eyre Peninsula, Murray
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Spreading prostrate soft, grey hairy herb to 1 m across. Leaves alternate and/or opposite; elliptic to obovate to 20 mm long, hairy. Flowers in leaf-opposed clusters of 1-8; perianth-segments usually 6-8 mm long, white or yellow inside. Flowering throughout the year. Fruits are dehiscing dry caspule, enclosed in the perianth with 5-valves. Seeds are shiny red-brown, reniform seed to 0.7 mm long and 0.5 mm wide, with tuberculate surface. Seed embryo type is peripheral.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between January and December. Collect capsules that are maturing, turning brown and contain hard, brown seeds. Place the capsules in a tray and leave to dry for one to two weeks. Then rub the capsules gently by hand to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate the unwanted material. Be careful as the seeds are very small. 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, at 100%. This species has physiological dormancy and can be difficult to germinate. Germination success of 94% has been achieved by Kew Gardens by pre-treating seeds with 250mg/L gibberellic acid and incubated at constant 20oC (see http://data.kew.org/sid). Germination success of 20% achieved from seeds heated in 120oC oven for 10 min, plated into 50mm glass petri dishes with sponge and filter paper and incubated at 10C/22C, 12/12 dark/light. (23/05/08).

Seeds stored:
  Hide
LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)		Number
of plants		Date
collected		Collection number
Collection location		Date
stored		% ViabilityStorage
temperature
 
MSB
28,000 (1.69 g)		50+29-Sep-2007MJT118
Lake Eyre		95%
BGA72,000 (3.95 g)3023-Oct-2007TST202
Lake Eyre		19-Sep-2008100%-18°C
BGA100,000 (7.06 g)7-Feb-2013DJD2662
Murray		27-Feb-2014100%-18°C
 
MSB
24,000 (1.94 g)		20+5-Feb-2015DJD3097
Murray		90%
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.