Pultenaea cuneata is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is an erect shrub with triangular to egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and groups of yellow to orange and red to purple flowers.

Pultenaea cuneata
In the Gibraltar Range National Park
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Genus: Pultenaea
Species:
P. cuneata
Binomial name
Pultenaea cuneata
Synonyms[1]
  • Pultenaea kennyi H.B.Will.
  • Pultenaea microphylla var. cuneata (Benth.) Benth.
  • Pultenaea sp. 'G'

Description

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Pultenaea cuneata is an erect shrub with hairy branchlets that typically grows to a height of 0.5–2 m (1 ft 8 in – 6 ft 7 in). The leaves are triangular to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 5–10 mm (0.20–0.39 in) long and 0.8–1.2 mm (0.031–0.047 in) wide with stipules 1.6–2.3 mm (0.063–0.091 in) long at the base and with the edges curved downwards. The flowers are arranged near the ends of the branchlets or on short side-shoots and are 7–10 mm (0.28–0.39 in) long on a pedicel 1.0–1.5 mm (0.039–0.059 in) long with hairy, linear bracteoles 4.5–6 mm (0.18–0.24 in) long attached to the sepal tube. The sepals are 3–5.2 mm (0.12–0.20 in) long and the standard petal is yellow to orange, 8.3–8.5 mm (0.33–0.33 in) long, the wings yellow to orange 4.5–7 mm (0.18–0.28 in) long and the keel red to purple. Flowering occurs from July to October and the fruit is an elliptic to egg-shaped pod 6.5–9 mm (0.26–0.35 in) long.[2][3]

Taxonomy and naming

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Pultenaea cuneata was first formally described in 1837 by George Bentham in the Commentationes de Leguminosarum Generibus.[4] The specific epithet (cuneata) means "wedge-shaped".[5][6]

Distribution and habitat

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This pultenaea is an understorey shrub in woodland and forest in the Moreton and Darling Downs districts in Queensland and from the Liverpool Range to the Nandewar Range in New South Wales.[2][3]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Pultenaea cuneata". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Pultenaea cuneata". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  3. ^ a b de Kok, Rogier P.J.; West, Judith G. (2004). "A revision of the genus Pultenaea (Fabaceae) 3. The eastern species with recurved leaves". Australian Systematic Botany. 17 (3): 283–284.
  4. ^ "Pultenaea cuneata". APNI. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  5. ^ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 174. ISBN 9780958034180.
  6. ^ Bentham, George (1837). Commentationes de Leguminosarum Generibus. p. 19. Retrieved 15 July 2021.