Leptosema macrocarpum (Benth.) Crisp

Scientific Description

Erect, shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like). Stems flattened or winged, not spiny, glabrous; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades absent or apparently so (reduced to scales), alternate, continuous with stem, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent, 3-5.6; pustules or glands absent. Stipules apparently absent even from the youngest leaves. Pedicel present, 15-25 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent, 1.5-4 mm long, hairy, not striate. Calyx 20-25 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 26-30 mm long, multicoloured, mostly red or brown, with some red or brown spots, streaks or blotches; claws absent, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 19-22 mm long, not auriculate, keel 25-30 mm long, not beaked, auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 4.2-4.4 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments free (or united at the very base), 18-21 mm long. Ovary sessile or subsessile, hairy or glandular; style 30-35 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), 35-60 mm long, 4-5 mm wide, sessile or subsessile, not constricted between the seeds, flat or compressed, glabrous, not beaked. Flowers in July, August and September. Occurs in the Eremaean and South-West Botanical Province, in the Carnarvon, Yalgoo and Geraldton Sandplains IBRA regions.