Sphaerolobium fornicatum Benth.

Scientific Description

Erect, shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like) or herb. Stems terete, not spiny, glabrous; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, simple, alternate, not continuous with stem, 3 mm long, 0.2 mm wide, glabrous, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent; pustules or glands absent. Stipules apparently absent even from the youngest leaves. Pedicel present, 2-2.2 mm long, glabrous. Bracteoles present and persistent. Calyx 5.5-6.5 mm long, not accrescent, glabrous, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 8-10 mm long, multicoloured, mostly yellow, red or orange, with some yellow, red or orange spots, streaks or blotches; claws present; standard 7.5-8 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 6-7 mm long, not auriculate, keel 6.5-7.5 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.4-0.5 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments free (or united at the very base), 3.5-6 mm long. Ovary stipitate; style 9.7-12 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, bearded (with a tuft of hairs at apex), terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), 5 mm long, 4 mm wide, stipitate, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, glabrous, not beaked. Flowers in January, October and November. Occurs in the South-West Botanical Province, in the Jarrah Forest and Warren IBRA regions.