Jacksonia carduacea 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, 15-30 mm long, 5-10 mm wide, glabrous, flat with flat margins; margins lobed; tubercles absent; pustules or glands absent. Stipules apparently absent even from the youngest leaves. Pedicel present, 1-1.5 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent, 5-9 mm long, hairy, not striate. Calyx 14-16 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 14-16 mm long, multicoloured, mostly yellow or red, with some yellow or red spots, streaks or blotches; claws present; standard 9-10.5 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 7-8.5 mm long, not auriculate, keel 8.5-9.5 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.7-0.9 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments free (or united at the very base), 6-9 mm long. Ovary stipitate, hairy or glandular; style 9-11 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), stipitate or sessile or subsessile, 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 Swan Coastal Plain IBRA regions. Conservation Code Priority Three (P3).