Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Bossiaea nummularia

Leafy stems. Photographer Jackie Miles, north of Goulburn

Common name

None

Family

Fabaceae

Where found

Open forest and woodland. Mainly in the Sydney area east from between Picton and Richmond. Two records from the tablelands south of Goulburn.

Notes

Shrub ot 0.2 m tall, prostrate to sprawling. Branchlets slightly to moderately compressed, moderately hairy, often waxy. Leaves alternating along the stems, 0.2-1.2 cm long, 2-6 mm wide, margins flat or slightly curved down, upper surface smooth, with gland-dotting usually evident, and hairy with appressed hairs or becoming hairless; lower surface becoming hairless; tips broadly rounded to blunt, or occasionally pointed.. Stipules become brown with age. Flowers pea-shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel. Standard petal to about 9 mm long, yellow with a red flare on the inside, entirely red on the outside. Wings brownish red throughout or almost so. Keel pale, red in the lower half. Flowers Winter to Spring.

No description in PlantNET (17 April 2021)

Description in Thompson, I.R., (2012) A revision of eastern Australian Bossiaea (Fabaceae: Bossiaeae). Muelleria 30(2): 137-138, Figs 8a, 9 (map)