Pultenaea laxiflora

Location & distribution maps

Common name:         Loose-Flower Bush-Pea

Conservation status: ...

• Rare in ACT    ( https://lists.ala.org.au/speciesListItem/list/dr7904 )

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 (laxiflora) means "wide, loose or open-flowered"

Flowers

• The flowers are about 7 mm long, arranged in leaf axils in groups of up to six, each flower on a hairy peduncle 2–6 mm long 

• There are egg-shaped bracts 2–3 mm long but that fall off as the flower opens. 

• The sepals are 5–7 mm long with egg-shaped bracteoles 4–5 mm long at the base of the sepal tube

• The standard and wings are yellow with red markings, the standard 8–9 mm with, and the keel is red to brown or purple

• Flowering occurs from September to January, mainly in January

Fruit:                            

• The fruit is an oval, hairy pod 4–5 mm long

Leaves:         

• The leaves are linear to narrow egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, or cylindrical with a groove along the upper surface

• 4–12 mm long and 0.5–2 mm wide with triangular stipules 1–2 mm long at the base

Stem & branches: 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• A low-lying to prostrate, spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.5–1.1 m , and has softly-hairy stems when young

Habitat:   

• Forest

Distribution:                  

• NSW, the ACT, Victoria and South Australia

• It is found on the western slopes of NSW and the ACT south from Bathurst, in the drier areas of central and western Victoria to the south-east of South Australia, including Kangaroo Island

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy 

  • Pultenaea laxiflora was first formally described in 1864 by George Bentham in Flora Australiensis

Sources of information:

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