Mirbelia densiflora C.A.Gardner

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, opposite, not continuous with stem, 10-12 mm long, 1-1.2 mm wide, glabrous, revolute; tubercles absent; pustules or glands present. Stipules apparently absent even from the youngest leaves or present but early deciduous ( only visible on youngest leaves ). Pedicel absent (flowers sessile). Bracteoles present and persistent, 6.5-7.2 mm long, hairy, not striate. Calyx 6-6.5 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 7.5-8.5 mm long, multicoloured, mostly yellow or orange, with some yellow or orange spots, streaks or blotches; claws absent; standard 7.5-8 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 6-7.2 mm long, not auriculate, keel 6.2-7 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.5-0.6 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments free (or united at the very base), 3.5-5 mm long. Ovary sessile or subsessile, glabrous; style 6-7 mm long, glabrous, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), stipitate, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, not beaked. Flowers in January and October. Occurs in the Eremaean and South-West Botanical Province, in the Coolgardie and Mallee IBRA regions. Conservation Code Priority Three (P3).