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Sphaerolobium medium R.Br.

Reference
W.T.Aiton, Hort.Kew. Ed.2,3:14 (1811)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Erect, leafless shrub, 0.1-0.6 m high. Fl. yellow/orange & red, Aug to Dec. Sandy or clayey soils, laterite.

Grazyna Paczkowska, Descriptive Catalogue, 2 August 1996
Image

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 or absent or apparently so (reduced to scales), alternate, not continuous with stem; tubercles absent; pustules or glands absent. Stipules apparently absent even from the youngest leaves. Pedicel present, 1.5-2 mm long, glabrous. Bracteoles present and persistent. Calyx 3.5-5 mm long, not accrescent, glabrous, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 6-7 mm long, multicoloured, mostly yellow, red or orange, with some yellow, red or orange spots, streaks or blotches; claws present; standard 5.5 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 5-6 mm long, not auriculate, keel 5.6-6 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.2-0.3 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments free (or united at the very base), 3-4 mm long. Ovary stipitate, glabrous; style 5-6.6 mm long, glabrous, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), stipitate, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, glabrous, not beaked. Flowers in August, September, October, November and December. Occurs in the South-West Botanical Province, in the Geraldton Sandplains, Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest, Mallee, Warren, Esperance and Swan Coastal Plain IBRA regions.

C. Hollister and K.R. Thiele, 24 October 2023

Distribution

IBRA Regions
Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee, Swan Coastal Plain, Warren.
IBRA Subregions
Dandaragan Plateau, Fitzgerald, Katanning, Lesueur Sandplain, Northern Jarrah Forest, Perth, Southern Jarrah Forest, Warren, Western Mallee.
IMCRA Regions
Central West Coast, WA South Coast.
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Albany, Armadale, Augusta Margaret River, Beverley, Boyup Brook, Bridgetown-Greenbushes, Brookton, Broomehill-Tambellup, Busselton, Cambridge, Capel, Chittering, Collie, Coorow, Cottesloe, Cranbrook, Cuballing, Dandaragan, Dardanup, Denmark, Donnybrook-Balingup, Esperance, Fremantle, Gingin, Gnowangerup, Gosnells, Harvey, Jerramungup, Kalamunda, Kojonup, Kulin, Manjimup, Mundaring, Murray, Nannup, Narrogin, Northam, Perth, Plantagenet, Ravensthorpe, Serpentine-Jarrahdale, Swan, Toodyay, Victoria Plains, Wagin, Wandering, Wanneroo, Waroona, West Arthur, Williams, Woodanilling, York.