Daviesia speciosa explained

Daviesia speciosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a low, erect, spindly, glabrous shrub with needle-shaped phyllodes almost indistinguishable from the branchlets, and red flowers.

Description

Daviesia speciosa is an erect, spindly, glabrous shrub that typically grows to a height of up to and has many erect stems. Its phyllodes are tapering needle-shaped, almost indistinguishable from the branchlets and sharply pointed, long and about wide. The flowers are arranged singly or in pairs in leaf axils on a peduncle long, the rachis long, each flower on a thread-like pedicel long with linear bracts long at the base. The sepals are about long and joined at the base, the five lobes about long. The flowers are red, and apparently bird-pollinated, the standard petal egg-shaped, turned back through a small angle, about long and wide. The wings are long, and the keel long. Flowering occurs in April and May.[1]

Taxonomy

Daviesia speciosa was first formally described in 1995 by Michael Crisp in Australian Systematic Botany from specimens collected in 1958 by Charles Chapman near Eneabba.[2] The specific epithet (speciosa) means "showy".[3]

Distribution and habitat

This daviesia grows in heath between Eneabba and Mingenew in the Avon Wheatbelt and Geraldton Sandplains biogeographic regions of south-western Western Australia.

Conservation status

Daviesia speciosa is classified as "Threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that it is in danger of extinction.[4]

Notes and References

  1. Crisp . Michael D. . Cayzer . Lindy . Chandler . Gregory T. . Cook . Lyn G. . A monograph of Daviesia (Mirbelieae, Faboideae, Fabaceae) . Phytotaxa . 2017 . 300 . 1 . 192–194 . 10.11646/phytotaxa.300.1.1. free .
  2. Web site: Daviesia speciosa. APNI. 29 April 2022.
  3. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 310 . 3rd.
  4. Web site: Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna. Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. 29 April 2022.