Mirbelia floribunda Benth.
Purple Mirbelia

Scientific Description

Erect, shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like). Stems terete, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades absent or apparently so (reduced to scales), simple, whorled, not continuous with stem, 2-8 mm long, 0.5-0.8 mm wide, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with recurved margins; margins entire; tubercles absent; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present but early deciduous ( only visible on youngest leaves ). Pedicel present, 1-1.5 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent, 1.5-2 mm long, hairy, not striate. Calyx 5.5-7 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 11-15 mm long, multicoloured, mostly purple or blue, with some purple or blue spots, streaks or blotches; claws absent; standard 10.5-13 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 7.6-8.7 mm long, not auriculate, keel 5.5-6.3 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.4-0.5 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments free (or united at the very base), 3-6 mm long. Ovary glabrous; style 3.5-4.2 mm long glabrous, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), 12 mm long, 6 mm wide, stipitate, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, glabrous, not beaked. Flowers in July, August, September and October. Occurs in the in the Geraldton Sandplains, Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest, Mallee, Esperance and Swan Coastal Plain IBRA regions.