Pultenaea juniperina explained

Pultenaea juniperina, commonly known as prickly bush-pea or prickly beauty is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is an erect, spiky shrub with hairy stems, linear to narrow elliptic leaves with stipules at the base, and yellow-orange and red flowers.

Description

Pultenaea juniperina is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of and has its young stems covered with curled hairs. The leaves are arranged alternately, varying in shape from linear to narrow elliptic, narrow egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, or lance shaped, often concave, often heart-shaped at the base and taper to a sharp point on the tip. They are mostly long and wide with a lance-shaped stipule long at the base. The lower surface of the leaves is darker than the upper surface and the edges are sometimes curved downwards.^[1]

The flowers are long, arranged singly or in clusters, in leaf axils near the ends of short side-shoots with egg-shaped, tapering bracts long, each flower on a pedicel long. The sepals are long with lance-shaped bracteoles long at the base. The standard petal is yellow to orange with red striations, the wings yellow to orange and the keel yellow with a red tip or all red. Flowering occurs from October to November and the fruit is a hairy pod, the lower half enclosed with the remains of the sepals.

Taxonomy and naming

Pultenaea juniperina was first formally described in 1805 by Jacques Labillardière in his book Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen.^{[2] [3]} The specific epithet (juniperina) means "juniper-like".^[4]

The common name "prickly bush-pea" is used on the mainland for this species and for the rare Pultenaea aristata.^{[5] [6] [7]} "Prickly beauty" is given as the common name in Tasmania,^[8]

Varieties of P. juniperina have been described, but the names are not accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

• Pultenaea juniperina var. latifolia Labill.,^[9] and implicitly the autonym P. juniperina Labill. var. juniperina,^[10] were described by George Bentham in Flora Australiensis and are regarded as synonyms of P. juniperina;^[11]
• Pultenaea juniperina var. leiocalyx Blakely described in Contributions from the New South Wales National Herbarium in 1941,^[12] is regarded as a synonym of P. juniperina;
• Pultenaea juniperina var. macrophylla Wawra published in Itinera principum S. Coburgi is also regarded as a synonym of P. juniperina;^[13]
• Pultenaea juniperina var. mucronata (Benth.) Corrick published in the journal Muelleria^[14] is regarded as a synonym of the previously published P. juniperina var. planifolia;^[15]
• Pultenaea juniperina var. planifolia H.B.Will. published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria^[16] is regarded as a synonym of P. blakelyi Joy Thomps.^[17]

Pultenaea forsythiana Blakely is also regarded as a synonym of P. juniperina, but is an accepted species in Victoria.^[18]

Distribution and habitat

Prickly bush-pea is endemic to south-eastern Australia where it grows in forest, woodland and heath. In New South Wales it occurs in the Armidale area and on the coast and tablelands south from the Brindabella Range, including in the Australian Capital Territory and Kosciuszko National Park. In Victoria it is treated as distinct from Pultenaea forsythiana. If records of that species are included, P. juniperina is widespread in the southern half of Victoria. The species is widespread in Tasmania.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Wood . Betty . Pultenaea juniperina . Lucid keys . 20 July 2021.
2. Web site: Pultenaea juniperina. APNI. 20 July 2021.
3. Book: Labillardière . Jacques . Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen . 1805 . Paris . 102–103 . 20 July 2021.
4. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 229 . 3rd.
5. Web site: Pultenaea juniperina . Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 20 July 2021.
6. Web site: Pultenaea juniperina . Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria . 20 July 2021.
7. Web site: Prickly bush-pea - profile . New South Wales Government Office of Environment and Heritage . 20 July 2021.
8. Web site: Jordan . Greg . Pultenaea juniperina . University of Tasmania . 20 July 2021.
9. Web site: Pultenaea juniperina var. latifolia. APNI. 20 July 2021.
10. Web site: Pultenaea juniperina var. juniperina. APNI. 20 July 2021.
11. Book: Bentham . George . von Mueller . Ferdinand . Flora Australiensis . 1864 . Lovell Reeve & Co. . London . 131 . 20 July 2021.
12. Web site: Pultenaea juniperina var. leiocalyx. APNI. 20 July 2021.
13. Web site: Pultenaea juniperina var. leiocalyx. APNI. 20 July 2021.
14. Corrick . Margaret G. . A new combination in Pultenaea juniperina Labill. (Papilionaceae) . Muelleria . 1977 . 3 . 4 . 249 . 20 July 2021.
15. Web site: Pultenaea juniperina var. planifolia. APNI. 20 July 2021.
16. Williamson . Herbert B. . A revision of the genus Pultenaea, Part II . Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria . 1921 . 33 . 138–139 . 20 July 2021.
17. Web site: Pultenaea blakelyi. Australian Plant Census. 20 July 2021.
18. Web site: Corrick . Margaret G. . Pultenaea forsythiana . Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria . 20 July 2021.