Mirbelia rhagodioides Crisp & J.M.Taylor

Scientific Description

Erect, shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like). Stems terete, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, simple, whorled, not continuous with stem, 1.8-5.5 mm long, 0.6-1 mm wide, hairy or glabrous, with simple hairs, flat with recurved margins; margins entire; tubercles absent; pustules or glands absent. Pedicel present, 1-2.6 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent. Calyx 3-3.6 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 7-10 mm long, multicoloured, mostly yellow, red or brown, with some yellow, red or brown spots, streaks or blotches; claws absent; standard 6.5-8 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 4.5-6 mm long, auriculate, keel 5.5-6.5 mm long, not beaked, auriculate, hairy at least in part. 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), 3.5-4.8 mm long. Ovary hairy or glandular; style 4.7-6 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), 5.8-10 mm long, 6-10 mm wide, stipitate, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, glabrous, not beaked. Flowers in April, June, July, August and September. Occurs in the Eremaean and South-West Botanical Province, in the Gascoyne, Little Sandy Desert, Yalgoo, Murchison, Great Victorian Desert, Coolgardie and Avon Wheatbelt IBRA regions.