Swainsona phacoides Benth.
Dwarf Swainsona

Scientific Description

Prostrate,spreading or scrambling, herb. Stems terete, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, compound, alternate, continuous with stem, 35-65 mm long, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent, leaflets 7(-9), pinnately arranged, terminal leaflet present, stalked; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves, 5.5-7.5 mm long, without glands, ribless. Pedicel present, 2-4 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent, 1.5-2 mm long, hairy, not striate. Calyx 9-12.5 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 15-21 mm long, multicoloured, mostly red or purple, with some red or purple spots, streaks or blotches; claws present; standard 11.5-20 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 9.5-15 mm long, auriculate, keel 13.5-21 mm long, not beaked, auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 2 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments united in an open sheath with one free stamen, 8-14 mm long. Ovary stipitate, hairy or glandular; style 13-19 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), 20-32 mm long, 5-8 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 Eremaean Botanical Province, in the Great Sandy Desert, Gascoyne, Central Ranges and Murchison IBRA regions.