Phyllota gracilis Turcz.

Scientific Description

Prostrate,spreading or scrambling, shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like). Stems terete, not spiny, glabrous; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, simple, alternate, not continuous with stem, 2.5-10 mm long, 1-1.2 mm wide, hairy, with simple hairs, revolute; margins entire; tubercles absent; pustules or glands absent. Stipules apparently absent even from the youngest leaves or present and persistent to older leaves. Pedicel present, 1.5-4 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent. Calyx 5-6.2 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribbed; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 11-12.5 mm long, multicoloured, red, mostly yellow or red, with some yellow or red spots, streaks or blotches; claws present; standard 11-12 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 10-11 mm long, not auriculate, keel 12-15 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 1.1-1.3 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments free (or united at the very base), 8 mm long. Ovary sessile or subsessile, hairy or glandular; style 13-17 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), sessile or subsessile, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, not beaked. Flowers in January, February, March and December. Occurs in the South-West Botanical Province, in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest, Mallee and Swan Coastal Plain IBRA regions.