Tephrosia sp. deserts (J.R. Maconochie 1403)

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, 35-95 mm long, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with recurved margins; margins entire; tubercles absent, leaflets 5-7, pinnately arranged or palmately arranged, terminal leaflet present, stalked; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves, 2-3.6 mm long, without glands, ribless. Pedicel present, 5.5-8 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent. Calyx 6.3-8 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 8-10.2 mm long; claws present; standard 6-7.5 mm long, hairy at least in part, not auriculate, wings 5.2-7 mm long, not auriculate, keel 5-7 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.4 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments united in an open sheath with one free stamen, 4-6 mm long. Ovary sessile or subsessile, hairy or glandular; style 5.5-7.2 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, not bearded, flattened at apex. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), 25-32 mm long, 3-4 mm wide, sessile or subsessile, constricted between the seeds, flat or compressed, hairy, with simple hairs, not beaked. Flowers in May and September. Occurs in the Eremaean Botanical Province, in the Great Sandy Desert, Gascoyne, Little Sandy Desert and Central Ranges IBRA regions.