Hovea stricta Meisn.

Scientific Description

Erect, shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like). Stems terete, spiny at least in part, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, simple, alternate, not continuous with stem, 15-42 mm long, 2-7 mm wide, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with recurved margins; margins entire; tubercles absent; pustules or glands absent. Stipules apparently absent even from the youngest leaves or present and persistent to older leaves, 3 mm long, without glands, ribless. Pedicel present, 4-6 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent, 1-1.4 mm long, hairy, not striate. Calyx 7-7.5 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 12-17 mm long, multicoloured, mostly purple or blue, with some purple or blue spots, streaks or blotches; claws present; standard 11-16.2 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 9.3-11 mm long, not auriculate, keel 6.5-8 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.3-0.4 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments united in an open sheath with one free stamen, 5-6 mm long. Ovary stipitate, glabrous; style 6-6.5 mm long, glabrous, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), 8.5 mm long, 10.5 mm wide, stipitate or sessile or subsessile, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, glabrous, not beaked. Flowers in June, July, August, September and October. Occurs in the South-West Botanical Province, in the Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest, Warren and Swan Coastal Plain IBRA regions.