Mirbelia oxylobioides
Mountain Mirbelia
Mountain Mirbelia
Wikipedia links: Angiosperms > Eudicots > Rosids > Fabales > Fabaceae > Faboideae > Mirbelia oxylobioides
Other links:
Overview:
Mirbelia oxylobioides, commonly known as mountain mirbelia or sandstone bushpea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia
It is a low-lying or erect shrub with narrowly elliptic to egg-shaped leaves and orange-yellow and reddish-purple flowers arranged near the end of the branches
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: