Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Pultenaea microphylla
Common name
Spreading bush-pea
Family
Fabaceae
Where found
Dry forest, woodland, heath, and grasslands. Widespread.
Notes
Shrub to 2 m tall to prostrate, sometimes mat-forming. Leaves usually sharp-pointed. Stems sparsely to densely hairy. Leaves alternating up the stems, 0.1-1.5 cm long, 0.5-3.5 mm wide, linear to wedge-shaped or oval, often folded lengthwise, the midrib terminating in a short, usually curved down mucro at the tip, or occasionally the tips strongly curved down and notched, margins flat to slightly rolled down, upper surface hairless to sparsely hairy, rarely warty; lower surface sparely to moderately hairy, hairy with appressed hairs; midrib raised. Flowers 5-10 mm long, pea shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel, standard petal yellow to red with red to dark markings, wings yellow to orange, keel red to purple. Bracteoles linear to triangular, inserted at the base of or on the calyx tube. Flowers in leafy clusters of 2–4 flowers, or single, the clusters sometimes close together. Flowers most of the year. Pods densely to sparsely hairy, smooth.
All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
Vulnerable Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Pultenaea~microphylla (accessed 2 February, 2021)
Description partly taken from: Kok, R.P.J. de & West, J.G., (2004) A revision of the genus Pultenaea (Fabaceae) 3. The eastern species with curved down leaves. Australian Systematic Botany 17(3): 298-299, Fig. 11 (map)
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