Mirbelia balsiformis R.Butcher

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), alternate, not continuous with stem, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent, 1.5-2; pustules or glands absent. Pedicel present, 2 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent, 1 mm long, glabrous, not striate. Calyx 5.3-7 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribbed; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 7-8.5 mm long, multicoloured, mostly yellow or red, with some yellow or red spots, streaks or blotches; claws absent; standard 7-8.5 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 5-7 mm long, not auriculate, keel 5.5-6.4 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.5-0.7 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 glabrous; style 5-5.6 mm long glabrous, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), 6-7 mm long, 8-10 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 Eremaean and South-West Botanical Province, in the Carnarvon, Yalgoo and Geraldton Sandplains IBRA regions.