Swainsona decurrens A.T.Lee

Scientific Description

Prostrate,spreading or scrambling, shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like). Stems terete, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, compound, alternate, not continuous with stem, 60-95 mm long, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent, leaflets 15-21, pinnately arranged, terminal leaflet present, stalked; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves, 9(-10.5) mm long, without glands, ribless. Pedicel present, 1.8-2 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent. Calyx 4-4.5 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 9-10.5 mm long, multicoloured, mostly red or purple, with some red or purple spots, streaks or blotches; claws present; standard 8-9 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 7-8 mm long, auriculate, keel 8-9.5 mm long, not beaked, auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.4-0.5 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments united in an open sheath with one free stamen, 6.5-8 mm long. Ovary stipitate, hairy or glandular; style 10-11 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, bearded (with a tuft of hairs at apex), flattened at apex. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), 9 mm long, 8.5 mm wide, stipitate, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, glabrous, not beaked. Flowers in May, June, July, August and September. Occurs in the Eremaean Botanical Province, in the Pilbara, Gascoyne and Little Sandy Desert IBRA regions.