Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Lespedeza juncea subsp. sericea

Flowering branch. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Brindabella Range, ACT

Stem with pods. Photographer Jackie Miles

Plants in cemetery. Photographer Jackie Miles

Common name

Perennial lespedeza, Chinese lespedeza

Family

Fabaceae

Where found

Dry forest, woodland, and grassy areas, disturbed sites, and along streams. ACT and Sydney area. Widespread elsewhere but not common.

Notes

Shrub to 1.2 m tall or sprawling. Stems hairy. Leaves alternating up the stems, compound, with 3 leaflets, each 0.7-2.5 cm long, 2-5 mm wide, tips squared off to blunt, mucronate, upper surface hairless, lower surface appressed-hairy. Flowers 6-7 mm long, pea shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel, pink-purple to creamy yellow or white. Standard petal often with a darker purple patch. Flowers single or in clusters of 2–7 at the base of the upper leaves. Lower clusters on the stems do not open. Flowers Summer to Autumn.

Endangered population in the Wollongong local government area.

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 or a part of a threatened ecological community.

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

Rare Vic.

NSW Threatened Species profile:  http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedSpeciesApp/profile.aspx?id=10471  (accessed 7 January, 2021)

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Lespedeza~juncea (accessed 7 January, 2021)