Pultenaea juniperina 

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information:

Plant  information

Common name:                Prickly Bush-pea  

• The common name "prickly bush-pea" is used on the mainland for this species and for the rare Pultenaea aristata

• "Prickly beauty" is given as the common name in Tasmania

Conservation status:  ...

Etymology:   

• The genus is named in honour of Richard Pulteney, an English surgeon and botanist, who also was the biographer of Linnaeus

• The specific epithet (juniperina) means "juniper-like"

Flowers:                  

• The flowers are 7–13 mm long, arranged singly or in clusters, in leaf axils near the ends of short side-shoots with egg-shaped, tapering bracts 2 mm long, each flower on a pedicel 2–3 mm long

• The sepals are 4–7 mm long with lance-shaped bracteoles 1.5–3 mm long at the base

• The standard petal is yellow to orange with red striations, the wings yellow to orange and the keel yellow with a red tip or all red

• Flowering occurs from October to November 

Fruit:                         

• The fruit is a hairy pod, the lower half enclosed with the remains of the sepals

Leaves:         

• The leaves are arranged alternately, varying in shape from linear to narrow elliptic, narrow egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, or lance shaped, often concave, often heart-shaped at the base and taper to a sharp point on the tip

• They are mostly 5–30 mm long and 1.5–2.5 mm wide with a lance-shaped stipule 2–3 mm long at the base

• The lower surface of the leaves is darker than the upper surface and the edges are sometimes curved downwards

Stem & branches: 

• Young stems are covered with curled hairs

Roots:         

Habit:        

• An erect shrub that typically grows to a height of 1.2–3 m

Habitat:   

• It grows in forest, woodland and heath

Distribution:                  

• Endemic to south-eastern Australia

• In NSW it occurs in the Armidale area and on the coast and tablelands south from the Brindabella Range, including in the Australian Capital Territory and Kosciuszko National Park

• In Victoria it is treated as distinct from Pultenaea forsythiana. If records of that species are included, P. juniperina is widespread in the southern half of Victoria

• The species is widespread in Tasmania

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy and naming

  • Pultenaea juniperina was first formally described in 1805 by Jacques Labillardière in his book Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen

  • Varieties of P. juniperina have been described, but the names are not accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

    • Pultenaea juniperina var. latifolia Labill., and implicitly the autonym P. juniperina Labill. var. juniperina, were described by George Bentham in Flora Australiensis and are regarded as synonyms of P. juniperina;

    • Pultenaea juniperina var. leiocalyx Blakely described in Contributions from the New South Wales National Herbarium in 1941, is regarded as a synonym of P. juniperina;

    • Pultenaea juniperina var. macrophylla Wawra published in Itinera principum S. Coburgi is also regarded as a synonym of P. juniperina;

    • Pultenaea juniperina var. mucronata (Benth.) Corrick published in the journal Muelleria is regarded as a synonym of the previously published P. juniperina var. planifolia;

    • Pultenaea juniperina var. planifolia H.B.Will. published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria is regarded as a synonym of P. blakelyi Joy Thomps.

  • Pultenaea forsythiana Blakely is also regarded as a synonym of P. juniperina, but is an accepted species in Victoria

Sources of information:

• (2023)