Mirbelia corallina R.Butcher

Scientific Description

Prostrate,spreading or scrambling, shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like). Stems terete, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades absent or apparently so (reduced to scales), alternate, not continuous with stem, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent, 3-7; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present but early deciduous ( only visible on youngest leaves ), 1.6 mm long, without glands, ribless. Pedicel present, 3.2-5 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent, 2-3 mm long, hairy, not striate. Calyx 7-9 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 10.5-13 mm long, multicoloured, mostly yellow or pink, with some yellow or pink spots, streaks or blotches; claws absent; standard 9-11.5 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 7.5-8.5 mm long, not auriculate, keel 6.5-7 mm long, not beaked, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.5-0.7 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments free (or united at the very base), 3.5-7 mm long. Ovary sessile or subsessile, hairy or glandular; style 4.6-5.7 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 August, September and October. Occurs in the South-West Botanical Province, in the Geraldton Sandplains IBRA regions. Conservation Code Priority Three (P3).