Swainsona elegans A.T.Lee

Scientific Description

Prostrate,spreading or scrambling, herb. Stems flattened, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, compound, alternate, 35-85 mm long, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with recurved margins; margins entire; tubercles absent, leaflets 13-17, pinnately arranged, terminal leaflet present, stalked; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves, 5-10 mm long, without glands, ribless. Pedicel present, 2.5-3 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent. Calyx 6-7.5 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 13-15.5 mm long, multicoloured, mostly red, purple or blue, with some red, purple or blue spots, streaks or blotches; claws present; standard 11-15 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 9-10 mm long, not auriculate, keel 11-13 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.6-0.7 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments united in an open sheath with one free stamen, 7-8.2 mm long. Ovary stipitate, hairy or glandular; style 9-15 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), stipitate, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, hairy, with simple hairs, not beaked. Flowers in July, August, September and October. Occurs in the Eremaean and South-West Botanical Province, in the Carnarvon, Yalgoo, Murchison and Avon Wheatbelt IBRA regions.