Pultenaea laxiflora explained

Pultenaea laxiflora, commonly known as loose-flower bush-pea,[1] is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is a low-lying to prostrate, spreading shrub with linear to narrow egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and yellow and red to brown or purple flowers.

Description

Pultenaea laxiflora is a low-lying to prostrate, spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of, and has softly-hairy stems when young. The leaves are linear to narrow egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, or cylindrical with a groove along the upper surface, long and wide with triangular stipules long at the base. The flowers are about long, arranged in leaf axils in groups of up to six, each flower on a hairy peduncle long. There are egg-shaped bracts long but that fall off as the flower opens. The sepals are long with egg-shaped bracteoles long at the base of the sepal tube. The standard and wings are yellow with red markings, the standard with, and the keel is red to brown or purple. Flowering occurs from September to January, mainly in January, and the fruit is an oval, hairy pod long.[2] [3] [4]

Taxonomy and naming

Pultenaea laxiflora was first formally described in 1864 by George Bentham in Flora Australiensis.[5] [6] The specific epithet (laxiflora) means "wide, loose or open-flowered".[7]

Distribution and habitat

Loose-flowered bush-pea grows in forest in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and South Australia. It is found on the western slopes of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory south from Bathurst, in the drier areas of central and western Victoria to the south-east of South Australia, including Kangaroo Island.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Pultenaea laxiflora . State Herbarium of South Australia . 23 July 2021.
  2. Web site: Corrick . Margaret G. . Pultenaea laxiflora . Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria . 23 July 2021.
  3. Web site: Pultenaea laxiflora . Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 23 July 2021.
  4. Web site: Wood . Betty . Pultenaea laxiflora . Lucid Keys . 23 July 2021.
  5. Web site: Pultenaea laxiflora. APNI. 23 July 2021.
  6. Book: Bentham . George . von Mueller . Ferdinand . Flora Australiensis . 1864 . Lovell Reeve & Co. . London . 133–134 . 23 July 2021.
  7. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 236 . 3rd.