Daviesia quadrilatera Benth.

Crisp, Michael D., Cayzer, Lindy, Chandler, Gregory T. & Cook, Lyn G., 2017, A monograph of Daviesia (Mirbelieae, Faboideae, Fabaceae), Phytotaxa 300 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

113. Daviesia quadrilatera Benth. in Lindley (1839: xiv), Bentham (1864: 85, partly), Crisp (1984: 164), Crisp (1995: 1226). Type: Not designated. Lectotype ( Crisp 1984: 164): Swan River, Drummond, 1839 (K, ex Herb. Bentham, twig marked 1a); isolectotype: twig marked 1b

Robust shrubs to 1.2 m high and 1 m broad, glabrous, ± glaucous. Root anatomy with anomalous secondary thickening (cord type). Branchlets ascending to erect, not apically spinescent, angular with longitudinal decurrent ridges, otherwise smooth when fresh, wrinkled-striate when dry. Phyllodes erect, vertically flattened, obliquely quadrilateral or triangular, pungent at apex, adaxial margin strongly curved, abaxial margin with a spinescent broadly triangular lobe near base, sessile and adnate to the branchlet by a 1.5–4 mm broad articulate base, (11–)17–21 × (3–) 6–13 mm (length measured to the spinescent apex), smooth when fresh, with raised anastomosing veins when dry. Unit inflorescences 1 (rarely 2) per axil, umbelliform, occasionally with 1–3 flowers lower down the peduncle (e.g. Chapman (81)77 and Gittins 1687), 3–6-flowered; peduncle becoming

252 • Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press

CRISP ET AL.

A MONOGRAPH OF DAVIESIA

Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press • 253 broader towards the apex, 5–14 mm long; rachis mostly nil, but up to 5 mm when flowers present down the peduncle; barren basal bracts few, ascending to spreading, oblong, keeled, ca. 0.5 mm long; subtending bracts spreading, spathulate, ca. 0.75 mm long. Pedicels 1–4 mm long. Calyx 4–4.5 mm long including the 1–1.5 mm stipe-like receptacle; upper 2 lobes united into a narrow, truncate lip; lower 3 lobes triangular, flared from just below the base; lobes ca. 0.5 mm long. Corolla : standard transversely elliptic, emarginate, cordate, 7–8.5 × 7.5–9 mm including the ca. 1.5 mm claw, with or without 2 small calli at the base of the lamina, yellow, yellow-orange or orange with a red centre; wings elliptic with a rounded and incurved apex enclosing the keel, auriculate, ca. 7.5–8 × 3 mm including the 1.5–2 mm claw, red; keel half transversely ovate, beaked, auriculate, slightly saccate, ca. 8–9 × 2.5–3 mm including the 4 mm claw. Stamens weakly dimorphic: inner whorl of 5 with longer, slightly thinner filaments and shorter, versatile anthers; outer whorl of 5 with shorter, slightly broader filaments and longer, basifixed anthers; filaments all compressed, free; anthers all 2-celled, subdorsifixed. Pod obliquely very broadly obtriangular, beaked, turgid, 14–16 × 11–12 mm; upper suture slightly sigmoid; lower suture acute. Seed not seen. ( Fig. 114 ).

Common name:— Buggery bush.

Flowering period:— July to September. Fruiting period: From August.

Distribution:— Western Australia, north of Perth from New Norcia to near Dongara; most records are from the Green Head–Coorow–Three Springs area.

Habitat:— Grows in sand or gravelly soils on laterite or ironstone in kwongan heath.

Selected specimens (14 examined):— WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Irwin: 56 km E of Jurien Bay on road to Marchagee, 30°12’S, 115°31’E, J. S . Beard 7874(a), 18 September 1976 ( PERTH); 45 km W of Coorow , 29°53’S, 116°01’E, C. H . Gittins 1687, September 1967 ( BRI); 44 km from Coorow on Green Head road, 30°04’S, 115°33’E, C . Chapman (34)76, 3 August 1976 ( CBG, MEL, PERTH); 50 km W of Coorow along Green Head Road, Alexander Morrison National Park , 30°02’S, 115°37’E, M . D. Crisp 5452, 24 January 1979 ( CBG, PERTH); 37 km from Three Springs on Eneabba Road , 29°43’S, 115°00’E, C . Chapman (81)77, 18 September 1977 ( CBG); 37.5 km W of Winchester on road to Eneabba , 29°48’S, 115°34’E, C . Chapman s.n., 22 July 1979 ( CBG 7908908 ); 22 miles SW of Three Springs , 29°42’S, 115°30’E, K. R . Newbey 2265, 30 August 1965 ( PERTH) .

Affinity:— The vertical, quadrilateral phyllodes make this species very difficult to confuse with any other except D. podophylla , with which it shares this morphology. Daviesia podophylla differs in having terete branchlets that are often spinescent, phyllodes that are constricted at the base to a pseudo-petiole, and a racemose uniflorescence with 1 or 2 (3) flowers on a short (1–2.5 mm) peduncle. Also, the flowers of D. podophylla are smaller (e.g. the calyx is 2.5–3 mm long and the standard is 7.5–8 × 6–7 mm).

Figures

FIGURE 114. Daviesia quadrilatera. A. Flowering branchlet. B. Inflorescence. C. Pod. A from Newbey 2265; B from Chapman s.n. (CBG 7908908); C from Crisp 5452. Drawn by A.L. Prowse.