Dillwynia cinerascens
Grey Parrot-pea
Grey Parrot-pea
Wikipedia links: Angiosperms > Eudicots > Rosids > Fabids > Fabeles > Fabaceae > Faboideae > Dillwynia cinerascens
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Overview:
Dillwynia cinerascens, commonly known as grey parrot-pea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia
It is an erect to low-lying shrub with linear or thread-like leaves and orange or yellow flowers
Common name: Grey Parrot-pea
Conservation status: ...
Etymology:
The name Dillwynia honours Lewis Weston Dillwyn "whose scientific labours respecting the genus Conferva, as well as his knowledge in other abstruse parts of botany, merit such a memorial"
The specific epithet (cinerascens) means "becoming ash-grey"
Flowers
The flowers are mostly orange or yellow and arranged in short racemes or corymbs, usually on the ends of branchlets, each flower sessile or on a short peduncle
There are hairy bracts about 1 mm long and the sepals are about 4 mm (0.16 in) long. The standard petal is 5–8 mm long, the wings shorter and the keel shortest
Flowering occurs from September to December
Fruit:
An egg-shaped pod 3–5 mm long and 1.5 mm wide containing smooth seeds
Leaves:
The leaves are linear to thread-like, 5–20 mm long and 0.3–0.5 mm wide, sometimes with a few white hairs
Stem & branches:
Roots:
Habit:
A low-lying to erect, heath-like shrub that grows to a height of 0.3–1.5 m with hairs flattened against its stems
Habitat:
Dry forest and woodland
Distribution:
Widespread in Victoria but also occurring in NSW south from near Bathurst, in Tasmania and in the far south-east of South Australia
Additional notes:
Taxonomy
Dillwynia cinerascens was first formally described by botanist Robert Brown in the Botanical Magazine in 1821
Brown came across the plant in 1804 growing near the River Derwent in Tasmania
Sources of information: