Swainsona laciniata A.T.Lee

Scientific Description

Prostrate,spreading or scrambling, herb. Stems terete, not spiny, glabrous; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, compound, alternate, continuous with stem, 24-40 mm long, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent, leaflets 9, pinnately arranged, terminal leaflet present, stalked; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves, 5.5 mm long, without glands, ribless. Pedicel present, 2 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent. Calyx 3.6-4 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 8-9.2 mm long, uniformly coloured, purple; claws present; standard 8-9 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 7-7.5 mm long, not auriculate, keel 7-8 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments united in an open sheath with one free stamen, 5-7 mm long. Ovary stipitate, hairy or glandular; style 10.4-11.5 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, bearded (with a tuft of hairs at apex), terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), 15-18 mm long, 3-4 mm wide, stipitate, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, hairy, with simple hairs. Flowers in July, August and September. Occurs in the Northern and Eremaean Botanical Province, in the Gascoyne, Little Sandy Desert, Central Ranges, Murchison and Dampierland IBRA regions.