Gompholobium grandiflorum explained

Gompholobium grandiflorum, commonly known as large wedge-pea,[1] is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to eastern New South Wales. It is an erect, more or less glabrous shrub with trifoliate leaves and lemon-yellow and greenish, pea-like flowers.

Description

Gompholobium grandiflorum is an erect, more or less glabrous shrub that typically grows to a height of and has smooth, often warty stems. The leaves are trifoliate with linear leaflets long and about wide with a sharp point on the tip and the edges curved down or rolled under. The flowers are long and arranged singly or in small groups on the ends of branches, each flower on a pedicel up to long. The sepals are about long, the standard petal and wings are lemon-yellow and the keel is greenish. Flowering occurs in most months but mainly in spring and the fruit is an oval pod up to long.[2] [3]

Taxonomy

Gompholobium grandiflorum was first formally described in 1804 by James Edward Smith in Exotic Botany.[4] The specific epithet (grandiflorum) means "large-flowered"[5] but the flowers are only large in comparison to those known to Smith at the time.[6] [7]

Distribution and habitat

Large wedge-pea grows in forest and heath on sandstone soils on the coast and nearby tablelands of New South Wales between Gosford and Jervis Bay and inland to the Blue Mountains.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Gompholobium grandiflorum, PlantNET - NSW Flora Online. 2010-08-22.
  2. Alan Fairley – Wildflowers of Sydney & adjoining areas page 141
  3. Web site: Wood . Betty . Gompholobium grandiflorum . Lucid Keys . 10 August 2021.
  4. Web site: Gompholobium grandiflorum. APNI. 10 August 2021.
  5. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 210 . 3rd.
  6. Book: Robinson . Les . Field guide to the native plants of Sydney . 1991 . Kangaroo Press . Kenthurst, NSW . 0864171927 . 80.
  7. Book: Smith . James Edward . Exotic Botany (Volume 1) . 1804 . R. Taylor & Co. . London . 7 . 10 August 2021.