Gastrolobium alternifolium G.Chandler & Crisp

Scientific Description

Erect, shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like). Stems angular, spiny at least in part, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, simple, alternate, continuous with stem, 10-35 mm long, 10-35 mm wide, glabrous, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves, 3-5.5 mm long, without glands, ribless. Pedicel present, 1.5-2 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present but early deciduous. Calyx 9-10 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 15-16 mm long, multicoloured, mostly yellow, red or purple, with some yellow, red or purple spots, streaks or blotches; claws present; standard 11-15.5 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 10.5-11 mm long, not auriculate, keel 10-11 mm long, not beaked, auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.6-0.8 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments free (or united at the very base), 7-11.5 mm long. Ovary sessile or subsessile, hairy or glandular; style 12-12.5 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), 8-8.5 mm long, 8-8.5 mm wide, stipitate, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, hairy, with simple hairs, not beaked. Flowers in July, August and September. Occurs in the South-West Botanical Province, in the Jarrah Forest and Swan Coastal Plain IBRA regions.