Daviesia aphylla F.Muell. ex Bentham (1864: 88)

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

74. Daviesia aphylla F.Muell. ex Bentham (1864: 88) . Type : ‘ Oldfield River, Maxwell.’ Holotype: K; isotypes: MEL (2 sheets), PERTH

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Daviesia brevifolia Lindl. in Mitchell (1838: 200) var. ephedroides Benth. (1864: 84) . Type: ‘ W. Australia, Drummond n. 137 .’

Holotype: K. Daviesia acanthoclona Mueller (1876: 32) . Daviesia benthamii Meisner (1844: 48) subsp. acanthoclona (F.Muell.) Crisp

(1995: 1175), Crisp (2002: 524), Craigie (2015: 29). Type: ‘Ad fontes Victoriae; Giles et Young.’ Holotype: MEL. Daviesia nudula Black (1947: 20) . Type: ‘Berri (River Murray).’ Holotype: Berri, J. Black, October 1924 ( AD); isotype: K. [ D. benthamii auct . non Meisn.: Crisp (1982b: 60, partly), Crisp (1995: 1176, partly, Jeanes (1996: 761, partly), Crisp (2002:

524, partly), Craigie (2015: 29, partly).]

Erect, bushy shrubs, to 2 (3) m tall, glabrous, dull green to yellowish green. Root anatomy is initially normal (unistelar) but later secondary thickening is anomalous (cord roots). Branchlets thick, rigid, ± smooth. Phyllodes 0–6(–8) and, when present, only near apex of each seasonal branchlet and reduced to scales at lower nodes, spreading at 90° or nearly so, pungent-tipped, inarticulate and continuous with the branchlet, 0–15(–25) mm long with little (if any) increase in length down the branchlet, 1–1.75 mm diam., rigid, smooth or obscurely ribbed. Unit inflorescences 1 per axil, racemose, 4- or more-flowered; peduncle 0.5–4 mm long; rachis 1.5–12 mm long; subtending bracts spreading, oblong, apex acuminate, 0.5–1 mm long. Pedicels 1–7 mm long. Calyx 2.5–3.5 mm long including the 1–1.5 mm receptacle; lobes equal or upper 2 united slightly higher than the lower 3, acuminate or upper 2 apiculate, 0.5–0.75 mm long. Corolla : standard transversely elliptic, retuse, 3–5 × 4–5.5 mm including the ca. 1.5 mm claw; adaxially orange-red grading to yellow at margins with a central yellow oblong guide-mark, abaxially deep purple-brown and yellow; wings obovate, rounded and incurved but not enclosing the keel, auriculate, 4.5–5 × 1.75–2.5 mm including the ca. 1.5 mm claw, orange-brown grading to yellowish at the tip; keel half transversely broadly elliptic, acute, auriculate, saccate, 4 × 1.5 mm including the 1.5 mm claw, white with a deep red-purple tip. Stamens strongly dimorphic: inner whorl of 5 with longer, slender, terete filaments and shorter, round, versatile anthers with confluent thecae; outer whorl of 5 with shorter, broader, compressed filaments and longer, oblong, basifixed, 2-celled anthers; filaments free. Pod very broadly obovate to obtriangular, scarcely acute to slightly obtuse, strongly compressed, 5–7 × 4–6 mm, slightly rounded in outline; upper suture slightly sigmoid; lower suture acute but broadly rounded. Seed compressed, ellipsoid, ca. 2–3 mm long, 2 mm broad, 1 mm thick; aril ca. 0.75 mm long. ( Fig. 75 ).

A MONOGRAPH OF DAVIESIA

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Flowering period:— August to October. Fruiting period: October to January.

Distribution:— Widespread throughout the wheatbelt and mallee districts of Western Australia, eastward through the southern goldfields, Great Victoria Desert and Nullarbor Plain fringes, and across the mallee districts of South Australia to Renmark near the Victorian border.

Habitat:— Grows in a variety of soils, from sand, sandy loam and calcareous sand to loam and clay in Eucalyptus -dominated heath or woodland, or mallee with a dense Melaleuca understorey, or mallee eucalypts with Triodia .

Selected specimens (138 examined):— WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Coolgardie: Noongar , 31°20’S, 118°58’E, R . Coveny 8376 & B . Habersely, 12 September 1976 ( CANB, NSW); ca. 80 km SSW of Coolgardie at road junction 5 km S of Pigeon Hole Gnamma Hole , 32°31’S, 120°50’E, M . D. Crisp 5924 et al., 18 September 1979 ( CBG); Jaurdi Station , 16 km S of homestead, 30°57’S, 120°13’E, M . D. Crisp 10101 & L. G . Cook, 1 October 2005 ( CANB, PERTH); 12 km along Norseman–Hyden Road, from turnoff 8 km N of Norseman along road to Coolgardie , 32°11’S, 121°37’E, M . D. Crisp 9540 & L. G . Cook, 13 October 2002 ( CANB). Eyre: Lort River , W of Grass Patch, 33°38’S, 121°18’E, J. S . Beard 5401, 1 November 1967 ( PERTH); Balladonia Road , W of Mt Ragged, 33°27’S, 123°26’E, M . D. Crisp 9427 & L. G . Cook, 20 September 2002 ( CANB, PERTH); 25 km from Borden along road to Albany ( Chester Pass Road ) and 3 km S of Amelup, 34°16’S, 118°12’E, M . D. Crisp 9490 & L. G . Cook, 3 October 2002 ( CANB, PERTH); Oldfield River at crossing of the Esperance–Ravensthorpe road, 32°41’S, 120°39’E, A. E . Orchard 1525, 13 October 1968 ( AD, CANB, PERTH). Helms: Site 1, 28 km NW of Queen Victoria Spring , 30°16’S, 123°20’E, D. J . Pearson 1189, 16 July 1991 ( CANB, PERTH). Roe : 61 km directly WSW of Salmon Gums, track W of end of Pyramid (Hill) Road , 33°09’S, 121°01’E, M . D. Crisp 9535 & L. G . Cook, 12 October 2002 ( CANB, PERTH) . SOUTH AUSTRALIA. Nullarbor : N of Hughes, 30°43’S, 129°31’E, W. S . Reid s.n., 12 July 1967 ( AD 98675958 ). Eyre Peninsula: Lock , 33°34’S, 135°46’E, leg. Veitch s.n., sine die ( AD 97622184 ). Murray Basin : 10.9 km directly NNE of Taylorville, alongside a graded track, 34°02’S, 140°03’E, M . D. Crisp 9410 & L. G . Cook, 24 October 2001 ( AD, CANB); Canegrass Station , 33°35’S, 140°01’E, C. S . Robinson 85, 21 October 1965 ( AD); 3 km E of Stony Pinch Dam on south Calperum Road off Old Coach Road , 34°07’S, 140°36’E, D. E . Symon 3852, 11 October 1965 ( AD, AHUC, CANB, K) .

Affinity:— Although D. aphylla can be difficult to distinguish morphologically from D. benthamii and D. purpurascens , the molecular phylogeny indicates that it comprises a strongly supported clade (by that name: VII.b, Fig. 1B ), which excludes the other two species. Daviesia purpurascens differs in having purplish or pruinose phyllodes, branchlets and pods, and the pods are oblong in shape and do not dehisce elastically. Daviesia benthamii differs in having usually six or more well-developed phyllodes diverging at 45–60° along the upper ca. 2/3 of the branchlet. The phyllodes are 15–50 mm long and increasing in length (up to 100 mm) down the branchlet. Two specimens from the Mullewa–Morawa area (WA) resemble D. aphylla morphologically by having few, short phyllodes near the branchlet apex (Woolcock D235) or are leafless (Demarz 6890) but DNA sequences unambiguously place them with D. benthamii , not with D. aphylla . Leafless specimens of D. aphylla resemble D. scoparia , which differs in having an erect, broom-like habit, branchlets that are striate when dry and larger bracts (ca. 1 mm long). Daviesia scoparia is always strictly leafless, whereas a few spinescent phyllodes can always be felt on some branchlets of D. aphylla plants.

Variation:— Plants from the eastern parts of the species’ range (Great Victoria Desert and Nullarbor Plain in WA, and in SA) tend to have longer inflorescences (including peduncles, rachises and pedicels) but these intergrade continuously with the short-inflorescence populations and do not appear to warrant taxonomic status. The informal phrase-name D. sp. Kanandah (R. Davis 10604) has been used for such material in PERTH.

Specimens from near the WA south coast, in the vicinity of Jerramungup–Ravensthorpe and Fitzgerald River National Park, appear intermediate between D. benthamii and D. aphylla but most likely are a form of the latter (e.g. Kern et al. LCH 17265, Davis 2226, Gardner s.n. PERTH 05496233 and George 10535). Other specimens from the south coast (e.g. Ravensthorpe and Pallinup River) previously identified as D. benthamii subsp. benthamii are hybrids between D. aphylla and D. nematophylla . See discussion under D. nematophylla .

Hybrids:— Daviesia aphylla × nematophylla , D. aphylla × purpurascens —see discussion under D. nematophylla and D. purpurascens . D. aphylla × argillacea (Thompson & Allen 1140, PERTH)—an ‘isolated’, morphologically intermediate plant in a mixed population of the parental species.

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Figures

FIGURE 1A. Phylogeny (part) of Daviesia estimated using maximum likelihood (PHYML) from concatenated sequences of ITS (nrDNA), and ndhF and trnL–trnF (cpDNA). The tree was rooted using the monotypic sister groups Viminaria and Erichsenia (not shown). The informal clade names are used for reference in the taxonomic treatment. Numbers on branches show non-bootstrap support. The tips are labelled with the taxon name and sample accession number.

FIGURE 75. Daviesia aphylla. A–D. Branchlet tips showing variation in phyllode and inflorescence development. A, B from Crisp 5964; C, D from J.M. Black s.n., October 1924 (AD: type of the synonym D. nudula). Drawn by A.L. Prowse. Adapted from Crisp (1995) with permission from CSIRO Publishing.