Daviesia apiculata Crisp (1995: 1170)

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

115. Daviesia apiculata Crisp (1995: 1170) . Type: Western Australia, Eyre, 9 km SW of Israelite Bay along road to Esperance , 33°39’S, 123°46’E, M. D. Crisp 4891, 7 January 1979. Holotype: CBG; isotypes: K, L, MEL, NSW, PERTH

Erect, bushy, shrubs, 0.4–1.5 m high, glabrous, light green, glaucescent. Root anatomy with anomalous secondary thickening (cord type). Branchlets ascending, terete, slightly flexuose, smooth when fresh, wrinkled-striate when dry. Phyllodes scattered, erect, rigid, terete, apiculate with a ± pungent 0.5–1 mm mucro, articulate at base, 25–60 mm long, 1.25–1.5 mm diam., smooth when fresh, striate when dry. Unit inflorescences 1 per axil, racemose, 4–6- flowered; mostly yellow tinged red towards the centre; peduncle 1–3 mm long; rachis 2–6 mm long; barren basal bracts forming on involucre, oblong, appressed, ca. 0.5 mm long; subtending bracts apressed to the pedicel, triangular, ca. 0.75 mm long. Pedicels 1–2 mm long. Calyx 3–3.5 mm long including the 1–1.25 mm receptacle; upper 2 lobes united in a truncate lip, ca. 0.5 mm long; lower 3 lobes triangular, ca. 0.25 mm long. Corolla : standard transversely elliptic, emarginate, margins reflexed, ca. 4–4.5 × 5 mm including the 1 mm claw; wings oblong, rounded and incurved but scarcely overlapping the keel, auriculate, ca. 4.5 × 1.5–1.75 mm including the 1 mm claw; keel half transversely elliptic, acute, auriculate, saccate, 4–4.5 × 1.5–2 mm including the ca. 1.5 mm claw. Stamens strongly dimorphic: inner whorl of 5 with longer, slender, narrower filaments and shorter, round, versatile anthers with confluent thecae; outer whorl of 5 with shorter, broader filaments and longer, oblong, basifixed, 2-celled anthers; filaments all compressed, free. Pod obliquely shallowly obtriangular, acute to acuminate, compressed, 14–15 × 6–8 mm; upper suture sigmoid; lower suture acute. Seed ellipsoid, compressed longitudinally, ca. 5 mm long, 2.5 mm broad, 1.5 mm thick, light brown to orange-brown with black mottling; aril ca. 2 mm long. ( Fig. 116 ).

Flowering period:— November to May. Fruiting period: August to October.

Distribution:— Western Australia, occurring in two apparently disjunct areas. One is in the wheatbelt and bounded roughly by Narembeen, Wickepin, Lake Grace and Hyden, and the other is east of a line from Salmon Gums to Esperance, extending to the vicinity of Israelite Bay.

Habitat:— Grows in light grey to white sand over laterite or gravel over sand, in kwongan shrubland dominated by Grevillea hookeriana Meisner (1845: 546) or by Allocasuarina campestris .

Selected specimens (28 examined):— WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Avon: Harrismith, 0.5 km E , 32°56’S, 117°52’E, M . D. Crisp 6156 et al., 26 September 1979 ( CBG, NSW, PERTH). Roe : 20 km N of Pingaring, 32°25’S, 118°40’E, C . E . & D.T. Woolcock D 236, 11 September 1982 ( CBG); 20 km NNE of Hyden, 4 km N of The Humps , 32°17’S, 118°56’E, M . D. Crisp 5557, 29 January 1979 ( BRI, CBG, PERTH); 46 km E of Pingaring along road to Varley , 32°45’S, 118°58’E, M . D. Crisp 5547, 29 January 1979 ( CBG, MEL, NSW, PERTH). Eyre: 54 km from Israelite Bay along road to Esperance , 9 km SE of Mt Baring, 33°45’S, 123°20’E, M . D. Crisp 4903, 7 January 1979 ( CBG, PERTH); track to Howick Hill , E of Esperance, 33°44’S, 122°45’E, J . Powell 3438 et al., 22 November 1985 ( CANB, NSW); Duke of Orleans Bay , 33°55’S, 122°35’E, R . D. Royce 6251, 8 February 1960 ( PERTH) .

Affinity:— There are several other species of Daviesia with terete, erect, striate, more or less pungent phyllodes that are articulate at the stem, namely D. grossa , D. lineata , D. oxylobium and D. teretifolia . All these species differ from D. apiculata in having an acuminate, acicular phyllode apex, usually 2–3 mm long (1 mm long in D. lineata ). In D. apiculata , the phyllode apex is scarcely pungent and certainly not acicular. Above all,

256 • Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press

CRISP ET AL.

A MONOGRAPH OF DAVIESIA

Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press • 257 D. apiculata has been confused with the widespread D. teretifolia . The latter species, as well as D. lineata and D. grossa , differ in having larger flowers (e.g. calyx including receptacle 4 mm or longer), longer pedicels (4 mm or longer) and turgid pods. Daviesia lineata differs further in having 1- or 2-flowered uniflorescences and dull- or yellow-green phyllodes that are <1 mm in diameter. Daviesia oxylobium differs further in having more or less equal calyx-lobes.

Figures

FIGURE 116. Daviesia apiculata. A. Flowering branchlet. B. Detail of phyllode tip. C. Inflorescence. D. Pod. A–C from Crisp 4891; D from Crisp 6156. Drawn by A.L. Prowse. Adapted from Crisp (1995) with permission from CSIRO Publishing.