Gastrolobium rubrum (Crisp) G.Chandler & Crisp

Scientific Description

Erect, shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like). Stems terete, not spiny, glabrous; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, simple, opposite, continuous with stem, 16-55 mm long, 5-20 mm wide, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves. Pedicel present, 3.5-4 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present but early deciduous. Calyx 12-16 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 20-23 mm long, multicoloured, mostly red or orange, with some red or orange spots, streaks or blotches; claws absent; standard 20-22 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 20-21 mm long, not auriculate, keel 20-22 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 1-1.1 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments free (or united at the very base), 11-20 mm long. Ovary sessile or subsessile, hairy or glandular; style 17-21 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), stipitate, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, not beaked. Flowers in September and October. Occurs in the South-West Botanical Province, in the Jarrah Forest and Esperance IBRA regions.