Mirbelia oxylobioides

Location & distribution maps

Common name:         Mountain Mirbelia

Conservation status: Vulnerable

• In Tasmania, sandstone bushpea is only found in the Heathy Hills Nature Reserve near Elderslie and is classified as "vulnerable" under Tasmania's Threatened Species Protection Act 1995

• It is threatened by the effects of drought and by the invasion of gorse

Etymology:   

• The specific epithet (oxylobioides) means "Oxylobium-like"

Flowers

Fruit:                            

• An oval to oblong pod 8–10 mm long

Leaves:         

• Narrowly elliptic to egg-shaped or oblong, 2–10 mm long, 1.4 mm wide on a petiole up to 0.5 mm long

Stem & branches: 

• The flowers are arranged in small groups on the ends of branches, each flower on a pedicel up to 4 mm long

• The sepals are 5–6 mm long, silky-hairy and joined at the base, the lobes about the same length as the sepal tube

• The petals are 8–10 mm long, the standard petal more or less round and orange-yellow with red markings, and the keel rust-coloured to purplish-red and about the same length as the wings

• Flowering mostly occurs from October to January 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• A low-lying or erect shrub that typically grows to a height of 1.5–3 m , its stems covered with soft downy hairs pressed against the surface

Habitat:   

• Shrubby woodland in mountainous country 

Distribution:                  

• South-eastern NSW, eastern Victoria and near Elderslie in Tasmania

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • Mirbelia oxylobioides was first formally described by botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae in 1861

Sources of information:

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