Gastrolobium bilobum 

Location & distribution maps

Common name:         Heart-leaved Poison

• he vernacular name has been common for over 140 years, and is inappropriate due to the leaves being wedge shaped, not heart shaped as the name suggests

Conservation status: ...

Etymology:   

Flowers:                  

• Between late winter and early summer (August to December in Australia) it produces yellow-orange pea-flowers with a central yellow area encircled by a band of red, and a maroon keel

Fruit:                         

Leaves:         

• The leaves are cuneiform, obovate or elliptic

Stem & branches: 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• The species grows to a height of up to 4 m

Habitat:   

• Usually on granite-based soils on peaks and outcrops as well as along rivers

• It is associated with karri and marri forest as well as mallee and heathland

Distribution:                  

• Endemic to south west Western Australia

• It occurs in the south-west of the state

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • The species was first formally described by botanist Robert Brown and published in Hortus Kew in 1811

  • In the nineteenth century as a plant within the group of gastrolobium, it was written about in the local press

  • This continued into the early and mid twentieth century, due to the affects on agriculture

  • It has been further analyzed within the Australian Nucleotide and Protein sequencing

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastrolobium_bilobum (2024)