Pultenaea ericifolia Benth.

Scientific Description

Erect or prostrate,spreading or scrambling, shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like). Stems terete, not spiny, glabrous; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, simple, alternate, not continuous with stem, 4.5-14 mm long, 0.5-1.3 mm wide, hairy, with simple hairs, strongly recurved, appearing terete but with one or two grooves below; tuberculate; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves, 2 mm long, without glands, ribless. Pedicel absent (flowers sessile). Bracteoles present and persistent. Calyx 6-7.5 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 11-12 mm long, multicoloured, mostly yellow, red or orange, with some yellow, red or orange spots, streaks or blotches; claws present; standard 9-11 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 8.5-9.6 mm long, not auriculate, keel 7-10 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.4 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments free (or united at the very base), 3.7-6.2 mm long. Ovary sessile or subsessile, hairy or glandular; style 3.7-4.5 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), sessile or subsessile, not constricted between the seeds, flat or compressed, not beaked. Flowers in September and October. Occurs in the South-West Botanical Province, in the Geraldton Sandplains, Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest, Mallee, Warren, Esperance and Swan Coastal Plain IBRA regions.