Plants of
South Australia
Dodonaea hexandra
Sapindaceae
Horned Hop-bush
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Regional Species Conservation Assessments per IBRA subregion.
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Near threatened
Rare
Vulnerable
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Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
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Keith
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 5

Etymology

Dodonaea named after Rembert Dodoens (1517-1585), a Flemish physician and botanist, also known under his Latinized name Rembertus Dodonaeus. Hexandra from the Greek 'hex' meaning six and 'andros' meaning male, referring to the species having six stamens.

Distribution and status

Found in southern South Australia, except the South-east growing in mallee scrub communities dominated by tree species, on alkaline soils and on sandy loams overlying limestone. Also found in Western Australia and Victoria. Native. Common in South Australia. Very rare in Western Australia. Rare in Victoria.
Herbarium regions: Eyre Peninsula, Northern Lofty, Yorke Peninsula, Southern Lofty, Kangaroo Island, South Eastern, Green Adelaide
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Eyre Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, Northern and Yorke, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Dioecious spreading shrub to 0.6 m high. Leaves simple, sessile, linear, channelled below, convex above, acute, to 1.5 cm long and 0.2 cm wide, viscous, with raised glands, glabrous, margin entire and strongly revolute. Flowers solitary, or rarely 2 together, axillary or terminal with small yellow-green flowers. Sepals 3 and stamens 6. Flowering between May and July. Fruits are red-brown balloon-like capsule 3-angled to 7 mm long and 8 mm wide, glabrous. Seeds are black globular seed to 2 mm long and 2 mm wide with a large aril. Seed embryo type is folded.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between September and December. Collect capsules that contain hard black seeds, usually when capsule is turning red or brown. Place capsules in a tray and leave to dry for 1 to 2 weeks. Then rub the capsules by hand 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. Seed viability is usually high. This species has physiological dormancy that needs to be overcome for the seed to germinate (e.g. nicking the seed coat).

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA 
MSB
15,800 (47.65 g)
15,800 (47.65 g)
29-Nov-2005DJD255
Murray
8-Aug-200690%-18°C
BGA1,646 (4.454 g)50+28-Nov-2022BKB138
Southern Lofty
20-Jun-202320%-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.