Tephrosia arenicola Maconochie

Scientific Description

Erect, herb. Stems terete, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, simple, alternate, continuous with stem, 25-60 mm long, 10-22 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 absent (flowers sessile). Bracteoles present and persistent. Calyx 6-7 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 7.5-9 mm long, uniformly coloured, orange; claws present; standard 7-8 mm long, hairy at least in part or glabrous, not auriculate, wings 7-8 mm long, not auriculate, keel 7-7.5 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, hairy at least in part. Stamens ten; anthers 0.6-0.7 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments united in an open sheath with one free stamen, 6.5-8.5 mm long. Ovary sessile or subsessile, hairy or glandular; style 7-10 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, not bearded, flattened at apex. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), sessile or subsessile, constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, not beaked. Flowers in April and May. Occurs in the Northern and Eremaean Botanical Province, in the Great Sandy Desert, Pilbara, Gascoyne, Little Sandy Desert, Gibson Desert and Central Kimberley IBRA regions.