Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Daviesia squarrosa

Flowers and 'leaves'. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Shoalhaven River near Tarago

Flowers and 'leaves'. Photographer Don Wood, near Nelligen

Common name

Rough bitter-pea

Family

Fabaceae

Where found

Dry forest and woodland. Coast, ranges, and the eastern part of the tablelands.

Notes

Shrub to 1.5 m tall. Branchlets cylindrical, ribbed, more or less rough. 'Leaves' needle-tipped. alternating up the stems, crowded, 0.4-1.2 cm long, 0.5-10 mm wide, sometimes folded together lengthwise, bases sometimes cordate, margins sometimes wavy; midrib prominent on the upper surface; veins reticulate or obscure. Calyx 2.4-3 mm long. Flowers pea shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel, standard petal yellow with red markings around the rich yellow central spot, 4.3-5.6 mm long, 6.6-7.2 mm wide, keel red with or without a yellow tip. Flowers in 1-2 flowered clusters, the clusters single or paired. Flowers Winter to Spring.

All species of Daviesia have 'leaves' that taste bitter, and hairless triangular pods.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Daviesia~squarrosa (accessed 4 April 2021)

Description partly based on Crisp, M.D., Cayzer, L., Chandler, G.R. & Cook, L.G. (2017), A monograph of Daviesia (Mirbelieae, Faboideae, Fabaceae). Phytotaxa 300(1): 133-134, Fig. 56