Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Bossiaea bombayensis
Common name
Bombay bossiaea
Family
Fabaceae
Where found
On sandy, rocky slopes and terraces above the flood line in shrubland, rarely in woodland. Tablelands along the Shoalhaven River west of Braidwood.
Notes
Shrub to 1.5 m tall, rhizomatous. Stems flat becoming round or oval in cross section, usually zig-zaggy, heavily tinged red when young, hairy soon becoming hairless, dark green, 2-5 mm wide. Leaves on juvenile growth alternating up the stems, scale-like, 0.07-0.12 cm long, about 1 mm wide. Otherwise leafless. Flowers pea-shaped with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel. Calyx 3.5-5 mm long, lobes of the calyx all the same shape and almost the same size. Standard petal 6.5-8 mm long, 9.5-11 mm wide, yellow with a red flare on the inner surface and red and yellow towards the margins on the outer surface, wings yellow with brownish red markings near the base, keel dark red with a pale pink base. Flowers Spring.
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.
NSW Threatened Species profile with photos: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedSpeciesApp/profile.aspx?id=20125 (accessed 4 January 2021)
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Bossiaea~bombayensis (accessed 4 January 2021)
Description mainly based on McDougall, K.L., (2009) Four new species related to Bossiaea bracteosa F.Muell. ex Benth. in south-eastern Australia Telopea 12(3) 351–354
Later description in Thompson, I.R., (2012) A revision of eastern Australian Bossiaea (Fabaceae: Bossiaeae). Muelleria 30(2): 167-168
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