Kennedia retrorsa

Location & distribution maps

Plant  information

Common name:         Red Coral Pea

Conservation status: Vulnerable

• Is listed as "vulnerable" under the Australian Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and the NSW Government Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016

Etymology:   

• The specific epithet (retrorsa) means "pointing backwards"

Flowers:                  

• The flowers are arranged in groups of four to twenty in racemes up to 250 mm long on a peduncle 50–150 mm long with lance-shaped bracts at the base

• The sepals are 6–8 mm long and the petals are pinkish-purple or scarlet and 12–15 mm long, the standard petal more or less circular

• Flowering mainly occurs from September to December 

Fruit:                         

• The fruit is a densely hairy, flattened pod about 60 mm long

Leaves:         

• The leaves are trifoliate with broadly elliptic to more or less circular leaflets 30–130 mm long and 30–100 mm wide 

• Stipules about 5 mm long at the base

Stem & branches: 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• A vigorous climbing herb

Habitat:   

• It grows in cool, damp and rocky places in a range of habitats, usually in sandy soil

Distribution:                  

• Endemic to NSW

• From the Goulburn River National Park 

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • Kennedia retrorsa was first formally described in 1907 by William Hemsley in Curtis's Botanical Magazine 

  • Specimens raised in Kew Gardens from seed "received from the Sydney Botanic Garden"

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedia_retrorsa (2023)