Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

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Bossiaea grayi

Common name

Murrumbidgee bossiaea, Scaly bossiaea

Family

Fabaceae

Where found

In sand amongst boulders on river banks in woodland dominated by Casuarina cunninghamiana . Occasionally in shrubland on rock outcrops close to the river. On the banks of the Murrumbidgee River and its tributaries in the ACT.

Notes

Shrub to 2 m tall, rhizomatous. Stems flat, hairless, grey green, 3-7 mm wide. Leaves reduced to scales, 0.1-0.22 cm long, 1-1.6 mm wide. Flowers pea-shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel. Calyx 5-6.5 mm long, calyx lobes almost the same size. Flowers 9-12 mm long, standard petal yellow with red markings at the base inside, suffused with red outside, wings yellow with red markings near the base, keel pink to dark red. Flowers Spring.

Endangered ACT. All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.

No PlantNET description (15 April 2021).

VICFLORA description:  https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/1a637d04-c052-4a74-b929-a1dd9c20c06e (accessed 15 April 2021)

Description partly based on Thompson, I.R., (2012) A revision of eastern Australian Bossiaea (Fabaceae: Bossiaeae). Muelleria 30(2): 168-169