Daviesia alternifolia Endl.

Scientific Description

Prostrate,spreading or scrambling, shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like). Stems terete, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, simple, alternate, continuous with stem, 30-60 mm long, 5-15 mm wide, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent; pustules or glands absent. Stipules apparently absent even from the youngest leaves, 0.5-2 mm long. Pedicel present, 3.6-4.5 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent, 14-25 mm long, hairy, not striate. Calyx 6-7.2 mm long, accrescent (enlarged in fruit), hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 13-17 mm long, multicoloured, mostly red, orange, brown or purple, with some red, orange, brown or purple spots, streaks or blotches; claws present; standard 13-15 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 11-13.2 mm long, not auriculate, keel 12-15 mm long, beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.5-0.6 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments free (or united at the very base), 7-9 mm long. Ovary sessile or subsessile, glabrous; style 9-9.5 mm long, glabrous, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), sessile or subsessile, not constricted between the seeds, flat or compressed, beaked. Flowers in September, October and November. Occurs in the South-West Botanical Province, in the Jarrah Forest, Mallee and Esperance IBRA regions.