Swainsona formosa (G.Don) Joy Thomps.

Scientific Description

Prostrate,spreading or scrambling, herb. Stems terete or flattened, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, compound, alternate, not continuous with stem, 45-185 mm long, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent, leaflets 13-19, pinnately arranged, terminal leaflet present, stalked; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves, 10-20 mm long, without glands, ribless. Bracteoles present and persistent. Calyx 15-23 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla uniformly coloured or multicoloured, red, mostly red or black, with some red or black spots, streaks or blotches; claws present; standard 55-70 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 7-8.5 mm long, auriculate, keel 26-50 mm long, beaked or not beaked, auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), 60-70 mm long, 10-12 mm wide, stipitate, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, hairy, with simple hairs. Flowers in June, July, August, September and October. Occurs in the Eremaean and South-West Botanical Province, in the Great Sandy Desert, Pilbara, Carnarvon, Gascoyne, Little Sandy Desert, Central Ranges, Murchison, Great Victorian Desert, Coolgardie, Nullarbor and Avon Wheatbelt IBRA regions.