Daviesia mimosoides

Blunt-leaf Bitter-pea

Daviesia mimosoides, commonly known as blunt-leaf bitter-pea, narrow-leaf bitter pea or leafy bitter-pea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to eastern continental Australia
It is an open shrub with tapering, linear, elliptic or egg-shaped phyllodes, and groups of orange-yellow and dark brownish-red to maroon flowers

Common name: Blunt-leaf Bitter-pea

Conservation status: ...

Etymology:

Flowers

The flowers are usually arranged in one or two racemes of five to ten flowers in leaf axils, on a peduncle 1–5 mm long, the rachis 4–12 mm long with narrowly oblong bracts at the base
The sepals are 2.5–5 mm long and joined at the base, the upper two lobes joined for most of their length and the lower three triangular and 0.3–0.6 mm long
The standard petal is broadly elliptic to egg-shaped, orange-yellow with dark brownish-red or maroon markings and a yellow centre and 6–7.5 mm long
The wings are 5.0–6.75 mm long and dark brownish-red or maroon with yellow tips, and the keel is 4.0–4.5 mm long and maroon
Flowering mainly occurs in September and October

Fruit:

Leaves:

The phyllodes are mostly narrowly elliptic, sometimes linear or egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 15–200 mm long and 4–30 mm wide

Stem & branches:

Roots:

Habit:

An open shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 2 m, rarely tree-like to 5 m, and has many glabrous branches

Habitat:

Understorey of open forest
At altitudes from sea level to 1,500 m
Subspecies acris is restricted to exposed rocky peaks from the Brindabella Range in the Australian Capital Territory, through southern NSW to eastern Victoria, at altitudes above 1,200 m

Distribution:

From south-east Queensland, through eastern NSW and the ACT, to eastern Victoria

Additional notes:

Taxonomy
- Daviesia mimosoides was first formally described in 1811 by Robert Brown in Aiton's Hortus Kewensis
- In 1991, Michael Crisp described two subspecies, and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:
  - Daviesia mimosoides subsp. acris Crisp has slightly glaucous leaves with a wedge-shaped base;
  - Daviesia mimosoides R.Br. subsp. mimosoides has dull green leaves that are narrower than those of subspecies acris and have a tapering base

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