Gastrolobium obovatum Benth.
Boat-leaved Poison

Scientific Description

Erect, shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like). Stems terete or angular, spiny at least in part, glabrous; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, simple, alternate, not continuous with stem, 15-35 mm long, 2-10 mm wide, hairy or glabrous, with simple hairs, flat with recurved margins; margins entire; tubercles absent; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves, 2.5-5 mm long, without glands, ribless. Pedicel present, 3-3.2 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present but early deciduous. Calyx 4.5-5 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 8-10.5 mm long, multicoloured, mostly yellow, red or orange, with some yellow, red or orange spots, streaks or blotches; claws absent; standard 7.5-10 mm long, glabrous, auriculate, wings 5-5.2 mm long, auriculate, keel 7-9 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.6-0.7 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments free (or united at the very base), 6.2-7 mm long. Ovary stipitate, hairy or glandular; style 7.6-9 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 and October. Occurs in the South-West Botanical Province, in the Geraldton Sandplains, Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest, Mallee, Esperance and Swan Coastal Plain IBRA regions.