Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Swainsona sericea
Common name
Silky Swainson-pea, Silky Pea
Family
Fabaceae
Where found
Woodland and grassy areas. Western Slopes, ACT, tablelands, and the western edge of the ranges. Occasionally elsewhere.
Notes
Perennial herb to 0.2 m tall or prostrate. Stems densely hairy, the hairs on the stems appressed or spreading, attached to the stems at about the middle of the hair (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see). Leaves mostly 2-7 cm long, mostly at the base of the plant, and alternating up the stems, compound, with 5-13 leaflets, each 0.5-2 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, more or less hairy, tips pointed, occasionally rounded or notched. Flowers 7-15 mm long, pea shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel, mauve to purple, with whitish markings, or white, in clusters of mostly 2-8 flowers. Calyx teeth usually about the same length as the calyx tube. Flowers Summer.
Vulnerable NSW. Provisions of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 No 63 relating to the protection of protected plants generally also apply to plants that are a threatened species.
All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
Vulnerable Vic. Listed in the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act, Vic.
NSW Threatened Species profile: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedSpeciesApp/profile.aspx?id=10783 (accessed 8 January 2021)
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Swainsona~sericea (accessed 8 January 2021)
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