Daviesia striata Turczaninow (1853: 264)

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

126. Daviesia striata Turczaninow (1853: 264) , Bentham (1864: 85), Crisp (1995: 1238). Type: ‘Drum. IV. n. 29.’ Holotype: KW; isotypes: BM, G (2 sheets), K (4 sheets), MEL, OXF, P (2 sheets)

Daviesia adnata Mueller (1860: 105) . Type : ‘ Ad sinum South-West Bay Novae Hollandiae austro-occidentalis. Maxw.’ Holotype: MEL; isotype: OXF.

Rigid open shrubs, to 1.2 m high, glabrous, glaucous to pruinose. Root anatomy with anomalous secondary thickening (cord type). Branchlets ascending, somewhat angular with longitudinal ridges, wrinkled when dry. Phyllodes very crowded with the bases overlapping, diverging at ca. 45°, vertically compressed, either recurved or almost straight and then recurved at the apex, obliquely oblong with the adaxial margin ± dilated, apex acuminate with the fiercely pungent tip projecting horizontally or slightly decurved, base articulate, 7–16 × 4–6.5 mm, fairly smooth when fresh, longitudinally wrinkled-striate when dry. Unit inflorescences 1 per axil, racemose, 4–7- flowered; peduncle 2–3.5 mm long; rachis 2.5–4.5 mm long; basal barren bracts forming an involucre at the base of the peduncle, ca. 0.25 mm long; subtending bracts spreading with upcurved tips, oblong, ca. 1 mm long. Pedicels 3.5–7 mm long. Calyx ca. 4 mm long including the 1.5–2 mm receptacle; lobes ca. 1 mm long; upper 2 lobes ± united into a lip; lower 3 lobes triangular. Corolla : standard very broadly elliptic to transversely so, emarginate, apex recurved, often strongly, 7.5–9 × 7.5–8.5 mm including the ca. 1 mm claw, 2 prominent, long calli present, beginning at the base of the lamina, yellow with a narrow red ring surrounding the yellow centre; wings obliquely elliptic with a rounded apex, auriculate, pinched at the junction of the claw and auricle so that the lamina opens out to expose the keel, ca. 8 × 3.5 mm including the 2 mm claw, red, fading to yellow at the very tips; keel half very broadly ovate, beaked, auriculate, saccate, ca. 6.5–7.5 × 1.75 mm including the 3–3.5 m claw, red. Stamens moderately dimorphic: inner whorl of 5 with longer, angular-terete filaments and shorter, versatile to subversatile anthers; outer whorl of 5 with shorter, broader, compressed filaments and longer, basifixed anthers; filaments cohering; anthers all 2-celled. Pod obliquely shallowly obtriangular, acuminate, somewhat turgid, 10–12 × 8–9 mm; upper suture straight to curved upwards; lower suture acute. Seed not seen. ( Fig. 127 ).

Flowering period:— Any time of the year. Fruiting period: One specimen seen fruiting in September.

Distribution:— Western Australia, south coast, from Bremer Bay east to East Mt Barren.

Habitat:— Usually in coastal heath communities on flat or undulating landscapes, or ridges overlooking the sea; on sand, sometimes gravelly, over laterite or quartzite.

Selected specimens (25 examined):— WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Eyre: 3 km W of Bremer Bay , 34°24’S, 119°21’E, K . Newbey 3027, 1964 ( PERTH); 34°03’S, 119°41’E, C. A . Gardner 12109, 13 February 1959 ( PERTH); Fitzgerald River National Park , 7 km SW of Annie Peak, 33°53’S, 119°55’E, M . D. Crisp 5014, 11 January 1979 ( CBG, MEL, PERTH); Fitzgerald River National Park, Hammersley Drive near junction with track to Mylies Beach , 33°57’S, 119°58’E, J . Taylor 1725 & P . Ollerenshaw, 12 September 1983 ( CBG, MEL) .

Affinity:— This species is distinctive but very similar to D. chapmanii , especially in the phyllode morphology and pale yellow to whitish colour of the standard-petal. However, D. chapmanii differs in having multiple sharp raised ridges along the dried branchlets, whereas branchlets of D. striata are angular and smooth (longitudinally wrinkled when dry); also, the phyllodes of D. chapmanii are narrower (2.5–4 mm) and more attenuate (tending to be triangular rather than oblong), and dull green rather than pruinose or glaucous. Daviesia preissii and D. spinosissima also have crowded phyllodes but they are much narrower than in D. striata (0.75–5 mm broad in D. preissii , 1.5–2 mm broad in D. spinosissima ), are straight or gently falcate, and are not glaucous.

Figures

FIGURE 127. Daviesia striata. A. Flowering branchlet. B. Inflorescence. C. Pod. A–C from Crisp 5104. Drawn by A.L. Prowse.