Gastrolobium hookeri Meisn.

Scientific Description

Erect, shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like). Stems terete, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, simple, opposite, not continuous with stem, 8-17 mm long, 4-8 mm wide, glabrous, flat with flat margins or flat with incurved margins (conduplicate); margins entire; tubercles absent; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves. Pedicel present, 2-4.5 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present but early deciduous. Calyx 4.5-5.5 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 8.5-10 mm long, multicoloured, mostly red, orange or purple, with some red, orange or purple spots, streaks or blotches; claws present; standard 7-10 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 5.7-7.5 mm long, not auriculate, keel 6-8 mm long, not beaked, auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.4-0.5 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments free (or united at the very base), 4.5-6.5 mm long. Ovary stipitate, hairy or glandular; style 5.5-8 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 October. Occurs in the South-West Botanical Province, in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest and Mallee IBRA regions.