Bossiaea inundata explained

Bossiaea inundata is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the Murchison River Gorge in Western Australia. It is a spreading, openly-branched shrub with oblong, elliptic or egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and deep yellow and red flowers.

Description

Bossiaea inundata is a spreading, openly-branched shrub that typically grows up to a height of up to high and has ridged stems and short side shoots ending in a sharp point. The leaves are oblong, elliptic or egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide on a petiole long with tapering stipules long at the base. The flowers are usually arranged singly or in small groups, often on short, spiny side branches, each flower on a pedicel long. There is often only one bracts long at the base of the pedicel. The five sepals are joined at the base forming a tube long, the two upper lobes long and the three lower lobes long, with an oblong to egg-shaped bracteole long on the pedicel. The standard petal is deep yellow with a reddish base and long, the wings long, and the keel is pinkish-red with a greenish base and long. Flowering occurs from May to September.[1]

Taxonomy and naming

Bossiaea inundata was first formally described in 2006 by James Henderson Ross in the journal Muelleria from specimens collected in the bed of the Murchison River upstream from the Ross Graham lookout in 1998.[2] The specific epithet (inundata) refers to the habitat of this species that results in the plants sometimes being inundated.

Distribution and habitat

This bossiaea grows in the bed and on the banks of the Murchison River in the Geraldton Sandplains biogeographic region in the west of Western Australia.

Conservation status

Bossiaea inundata is classified as "Priority Two" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Ross . James H. . A conspectus of the Western Australian Bossiaea species (Bossiaeeae: Fabaceae). . Muelleria . 2006 . 11 . 96–98 . 1 August 2021.
  2. Web site: Bossiaea inundata. APNI. 1 August 2021.
  3. Web site: Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna. Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. 1 August 2021.