Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Pultenaea polifolia
Common name
Dusky bush-pea
Family
Fabaceae
Where found
Dry forest, woodland, heath, and grassy areas. Widespread. Most common in the Sydney area, ACT, the mountains to the west, and Kosciuszko National Park.
Notes
Shrub to 1.3 m tall or prostrate, sometimes mat-forming. Leaves with sharp tips. Stems sparsely to moderately hairy. Leaves alternating along the stems, 0.2-3.5 cm long, 1-7 mm wide, convex in cross section, with a central groove, tips blunt with a stiff bristle and curved down or blunt with a fragile mucro, margins curved to rolled down,.upper surface hairless, darker than the lower surface; lower surface with long, loose hairs; midrib flattened from above. Flowers 5-11 mm long, pea shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel, standard petal yellow to red, often with red markings, wings yellow to orange, keel red to purple. Bracteoles linear to 3-toothed at the tips, inserted on the calyx tube. Flowers in dense clusters. Flowers Spring to Summer. Pods densely to sparsely hairy, smooth.
All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
Rare Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Pultenaea~polifolia (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): 308-309, Fig. 15 (map)
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