Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Bossiaea heterophylla

Flowers and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Mimosa Rocks National Park north of Tathra

Flowers and leaves. Photographer Don Wood, Yalwal Rd west of Nowra

Common name

Variable bossiaea

Family

Fabaceae

Where found

Dry forest, woodland, heath, and other habitats. Coast, ranges, and tablelands, mainly north from Batemans Bay.

Notes

Shrub to about 1 m tall. Stems moderately compressed to flat, occasionally with narrow wings, hairy to hairless, often glaucous. Leaves alternating up the stems, 0.4-3 cm long, 1.5-6 mm wide (juvenile leaves to 20 mm wide), often variable in shape on the same plant; oval to almost linear, margins flat or curved to rolled upwards. Some plants have round (juvenile) leaves near the base of the plant. Flowers 7-15 mm long, pea shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel. Front of standard petal yellow with a red flare, back mostly flushed pink, wings yellow or flushed pink, keel pink grading to dark red. Flowers Autumn to Winter.

Rare Vic.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Bossiaea~heterophylla (accessed 5 January, 2020)

Description partly based on Thompson, I.R., (2012) A revision of eastern Australian Bossiaea (Fabaceae: Bossiaeae). Muelleria 30(2): 149-150