Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

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Swainsona behriana

Common name

Behr's swainson-pea, Southern swainson-pea

Family

Fabaceae 

Where found

Dry forest, woodland, and grassy areas, often on moist sites. Kosciuszko National Park. ACT. Tablelands east and south from the ACT.

Notes

Perennial herb to 0.15 m tall or prostrate. Stems very hairy, the hairs attached to the stems at their base and sticking out from the stems (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see). Leaves mostly 3-5 cm long, compound, with 9-13 leaflets, each mostly 0.5-1.5 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, tips pointed, both surfaces hairy or sometimes the upper surface hairless. Flowers 7-15 mm long, pea shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel, mauve to purple, with white to yellow and purple markings, in clusters of mostly 2-7 flowers. Calyx teeth more or less equal in length to the calyx tube. Flowers Spring-Summer.

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=Swainsona~behriana (accessed 7 February, 2021)