Gastrolobium appressum C.A.Gardner
Scaleleaf Poison

Scientific Description

Erect, shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like). Stems terete, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, simple, opposite or whorled, continuous with stem, 6-11.5 mm long, 1.2-3 mm wide, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with incurved margins (conduplicate); margins entire; tubercles absent; pustules or glands absent. Stipules apparently absent even from the youngest leaves. Pedicel present, 1.2-2 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present but early deciduous. Calyx 4-6.5 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 9.5-12 mm long, multicoloured, mostly red, orange or purple, with some red, orange or purple spots, streaks or blotches; claws present; standard 7.5-11.5 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 8.5-11 mm long, auriculate, keel 8.5-11 mm long, not beaked, auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.9-1 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments free (or united at the very base), 10 mm long. Ovary stipitate, hairy or glandular; style 8-12 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), stipitate, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, not beaked. Flowers in August, September, October, November and December. Occurs in the South-West Botanical Province, in the Geraldton Sandplains and Avon Wheatbelt IBRA regions. Conservation Code Threatened (T).