Swainsona tephrotricha is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to eastern South Australia. It is an erect or ascending perennial plant, with imparipinnate leaves with 7 to 19 broadly egg-shaped to narrowly elliptic leaflets, and racemes of 30 or more pink or pinkish-purple flowers.
| Swainsona tephrotricha | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Fabales |
| Family: | Fabaceae |
| Subfamily: | Faboideae |
| Genus: | Swainsona |
| Species: | S. tephrotricha
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| Binomial name | |
| Swainsona tephrotricha | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
|
Swainsona lessertiifolia var. tephrotricha (F.Muell.) Benth. | |
Description
editSwainsona tephrotricha is an erect or ascending subshrubby perennial, with imparipinnate leaves 50–100 mm (2.0–3.9 in) long, with 7 to 19 broadly egg-shaped to narrowly elliptic leaflets, 30–90 mm (1.2–3.5 in) long, the side leaflets 10–30 mm (0.39–1.18 in) long and 3–10 mm (0.12–0.39 in) wide. There is a stipule 5–8 mm (0.20–0.31 in) long at the base of the petiole. The flowers are arranged in racemes with up to 30 or more flowers on a peduncle 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) wide, each flower 8–12 mm (0.31–0.47 in) long on a dark, hairy pedicel 1–3 mm (0.039–0.118 in) long. The sepals are joined at the base, forming a tube 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) long, the sepal lobes usually much shorter than the tube. The petals are pink or pinkish-purple, rarely white, the standard petal 8–12 mm (0.31–0.47 in) long and 10–12 mm (0.39–0.47 in) wide, the wings about 8–10 mm (0.31–0.39 in) long, and the keel about 9–10 mm (0.35–0.39 in) long and 3.5–4.0 mm (0.14–0.16 in) deep. Flowering mainly occurs from July to October and the fruit is more or less spherical, 10–15 mm (0.39–0.59 in) long and 7–8 mm (0.28–0.31 in) wide, with the remains of the style about 6 mm (0.24 in) long.[2][3]
Taxonomy
editSwainsona tephrotricha was first formally described in 1853 by Ferdinand von Mueller in the journal Linnaea.[4][5]
Distribution and habitat
editThis species of pea grows on arid hillsides, often on roadsides, in and around the Flinders Ranges in the east of South Australia.[2][3]
References
edit- ^ a b "Swainsona tephrotricha". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ a b Thompson, Joy (1993). "A revision of the genus Swainsona (Fabaceae)". Telopea. 5 (3): 537–538. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ a b "Swainsona tephrotricha". State Herbarium of South Australia. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ "Swainsona tephrotricha". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ von Mueller, Ferdinand (1853). "Diagnoses et descriptiones plantarum novarum, quas in Nova Hollandia australi praecipue in regionibus interioribus". Linnaea: ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange, oder Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde. 25: 392. Retrieved 16 June 2024.