Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Pultenaea paleacea
Chaffy bush-pea
Fabaceae
Dry forest, woodland, heath, swamps, sea cliffs, dunes. Coast, ranges, and the eastern part of the tablelands, north from Ulladulla. Occasional elsewhere.
Prostrate to erect shrub to 1.5 m tall. Leaves with sharp points. Stems hairy. Leaves alternating up the stems, 0.6-2.3 cm long, 0.8-6 mm wide, tips pointed, curved down, margins mostly rolled down, upper surface darker than the lower surface. Flowers 7-13 mm long, pea shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel, standard petal yellow to orange with red markings, wings yellow to orange, keel red to purple. Bracteoles boat-shaped to linear, inserted at the base of the calyx tube. Flowers in dense clusters. Flowers Winter to Summer. Pods densely to sparsely hairy, smooth.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Pultenaea~paleacea (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): 302-304, Fig. 13 (map)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application: