Swainsona calcicola Joy Thomps.

Scientific Description

Prostrate,spreading or scrambling, herb. Stems terete, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, compound, alternate, continuous with stem, 25-40 mm long, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent, leaflets 7-11, pinnately arranged, terminal leaflet present, stalked; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves, 8-10 mm long, without glands, ribless. Pedicel present, 4-5 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent. Calyx 6.5-10 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 14-19.5 mm long, multicoloured, mostly red, purple or blue, with some red, purple or blue spots, streaks or blotches; claws present; standard 10-18 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 9-14.5 mm long, not auriculate, keel 12.5-19 mm long, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.8-1.2 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments united in an open sheath with one free stamen, 8-19 mm long. Ovary stipitate, hairy or glandular; style 16-19 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, bearded (with a tuft of hairs at apex), flattened at apex. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), 22-25 mm long, 7-8 mm wide, stipitate, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, hairy, with simple hairs, not beaked. Flowers in August and September. Occurs in the Eremaean Botanical Province, in the Carnarvon IBRA regions.