Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Swainsona behriana
Behr's swainson-pea, Southern swainson-pea
Fabaceae
Dry forest, woodland, and grassy areas, often on moist sites. Kosciuszko National Park. ACT. Tablelands east and south from the ACT.
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)
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