Gastrolobium pycnostachyum Benth.
Mt. Ragged Poison

Scientific Description

Erect or prostrate,spreading or scrambling, shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like). Stems angular, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, simple, opposite, continuous with stem, 15-35 mm long, 10-20 mm wide, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves, 4 mm long, without glands, ribless. Pedicel present, 2-3 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present but early deciduous. Calyx 3.5-5 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 7.5-10 mm long, multicoloured, mostly yellow, red or orange, with some yellow, red or orange spots, streaks or blotches; claws present; standard 7.4-9.4 mm long, glabrous, auriculate, wings 6.4-8 mm long, auriculate, keel 5.2-8 mm long, not beaked, auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.4-0.6 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments free (or united at the very base), 5-6 mm long. Ovary stipitate, hairy or glandular; style 6.2-7.7 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), 7-8 mm long, 5-5.5 mm wide, stipitate, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, hairy, with simple hairs, not beaked. Flowers in January, August, September and October. Occurs in the South-West Botanical Province, in the Mallee and Esperance IBRA regions. Conservation Code Priority Two (P2).