Daviesia ulicifolia | |
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Subspecies ulicifolia in Wilsons Promontory National Park | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Fabales |
Family: | Fabaceae |
Subfamily: | Faboideae |
Genus: | Daviesia |
Species: | D. ulicifolia
|
Binomial name | |
Daviesia ulicifolia | |
Synonyms [1] | |
List
|
Daviesia ulicifolia, commonly known as gorse bitter-pea, [2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a rigid, openly-branched shrub with sharply-pointed, narrow elliptic, narrow egg-shaped, rarely egg-shaped phyllodes and usually orange-yellow and dark red flowers.
Daviesia ulicifolia is a rigid, openly-branched shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) and has spiny branchlets. Its phyllodes are narrow elliptic, narrow egg-shaped, rarely egg-shaped, 5–35 mm (0.20–1.38 in) long and 0.5–6 mm (0.020–0.236 in) wide and sharply pointed with a prominent midrib on the upper surface. The flowers are arranged singly or in pairs, sometimes in groups of up to seven, in leaf axils on a peduncle up to 3 mm (0.12 in) long, the rachis up to 1.1 mm (0.043 in) long, each flower on a pedicel 0.5–5 mm (0.020–0.197 in) long. The sepals are 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 in) long, the five lobes about 0.5–1 mm (0.020–0.039 in) long. Flower colour varies with subspecies, the standard petal broadly egg-shaped with a notched tip, 3–6 mm (0.12–0.24 in) long, 3–10 mm (0.12–0.39 in) wide, and usually yellow or orange-yellow with a red ring surrounding a yellow centre. The wings are 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long, yellow and dark red, the keel 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) long and maroon to red. Flowering occurs from August to October, depending on elevation and latitude, and the fruit is a flattened triangular pod 5–8 mm (0.20–0.31 in) long. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Daviesia ulicifolia was first formally described by English botanist Henry Cranke Andrews in 1803 in The Botanist's Repository for New, and Rare Plants. [8] [9] The specific epithet (ulicifolia) means " gorse-leaved", referring to the distribution of this leucopogon, compared to others in the genus. [10]
In 1997, Gregory T. Chandler and Michael Crisp described six subspecies of D. ulicifolia in Australian Systematic Botany, and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:
Gorse bitter-pea is widely distributed in Australia, where it grows in open forest in all six states, but not the Northern Territory.
Daviesia ulicifolia | |
---|---|
Subspecies ulicifolia in Wilsons Promontory National Park | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Fabales |
Family: | Fabaceae |
Subfamily: | Faboideae |
Genus: | Daviesia |
Species: | D. ulicifolia
|
Binomial name | |
Daviesia ulicifolia | |
Synonyms [1] | |
List
|
Daviesia ulicifolia, commonly known as gorse bitter-pea, [2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a rigid, openly-branched shrub with sharply-pointed, narrow elliptic, narrow egg-shaped, rarely egg-shaped phyllodes and usually orange-yellow and dark red flowers.
Daviesia ulicifolia is a rigid, openly-branched shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) and has spiny branchlets. Its phyllodes are narrow elliptic, narrow egg-shaped, rarely egg-shaped, 5–35 mm (0.20–1.38 in) long and 0.5–6 mm (0.020–0.236 in) wide and sharply pointed with a prominent midrib on the upper surface. The flowers are arranged singly or in pairs, sometimes in groups of up to seven, in leaf axils on a peduncle up to 3 mm (0.12 in) long, the rachis up to 1.1 mm (0.043 in) long, each flower on a pedicel 0.5–5 mm (0.020–0.197 in) long. The sepals are 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 in) long, the five lobes about 0.5–1 mm (0.020–0.039 in) long. Flower colour varies with subspecies, the standard petal broadly egg-shaped with a notched tip, 3–6 mm (0.12–0.24 in) long, 3–10 mm (0.12–0.39 in) wide, and usually yellow or orange-yellow with a red ring surrounding a yellow centre. The wings are 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long, yellow and dark red, the keel 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) long and maroon to red. Flowering occurs from August to October, depending on elevation and latitude, and the fruit is a flattened triangular pod 5–8 mm (0.20–0.31 in) long. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Daviesia ulicifolia was first formally described by English botanist Henry Cranke Andrews in 1803 in The Botanist's Repository for New, and Rare Plants. [8] [9] The specific epithet (ulicifolia) means " gorse-leaved", referring to the distribution of this leucopogon, compared to others in the genus. [10]
In 1997, Gregory T. Chandler and Michael Crisp described six subspecies of D. ulicifolia in Australian Systematic Botany, and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:
Gorse bitter-pea is widely distributed in Australia, where it grows in open forest in all six states, but not the Northern Territory.