Daviesia arborea W. Hill (1879: 65)

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

54. Daviesia arborea W. Hill (1879: 65) , W. Hill (1880: 22), Stanley & Ross (1983: 253), Crisp (1991a: 248), Crisp (1995: 1171), Crisp (2002: 524). Daviesia corymbosa Smith (1805: 507) var. arborea (W.Hill) Maiden (1898: 25) ]. Type: ‘occurring upon the Darlington Ranges’. Holotype: MEL 80930

Daviesia arborea F.Muell. & Scortech. ex Scortechini (1882: 221) , nom. illeg., non W. Hill. Type: Logan River , B. Scortechini 136, 1881 ( BRI 216486 , MEL 77433 & 80933–4) .

Glabrous shrubs or small trees with weeping branches, to 14 m tall; bark corky. Root anatomy unknown. Branchlets drooping, angular, ribbed. Phyllodes scattered, spreading at an acute angle, linear-elliptic, slightly curved, tapered to both ends, articulate at base, 40–200 × 3–12 mm, striate with fine parallel venation, thin, green, discolorous. Unit inflorescences 1(2) per axil, racemose, with 8–15 evenly spaced flowers; peduncle 2–4 mm long; rachis 8–23 mm long; subtending bracts appressed, subulate, 0.5–1 mm long. Pedicels 2–8 mm long. Calyx 4–5.5 mm long including 1.5–2.5 mm receptacle, lacking dark markings; upper 2 lobes united in a truncate, emarginate lip, ca. 1.5 mm long; lower 3 slightly shorter, triangular. Corolla : standard transversely broadly elliptic, emarginate, cordate, 7–8 × 7–8 mm including the 1.5–2 mm claw, pure yellow with fine red markings surrounding an intensely yellow spot at centre; wings obovate, rounded at apex, auriculate, ca. 7.5 × 3 mm including the 2 mm claw, yellow infused with dark red toward the base; keel half very broadly obovate, acute, saccate, auriculate, ca. 5 × 2 mm including the 2 mm claw, pale green with a red tip. Stamens strongly dimorphic: inner whorl of 5 with longer, terete filaments and discoid, subversatile anthers with confluent thecae; outer whorl of 5 with shorter, compressed filaments and compressed, very broad oblong-ovoid, basifixed, 2-celled anthers; filaments free. Pod obliquely shallowly to very broadly obtriangular, ± acute, compressed, 7–9 × 4–5.5 mm, thin-walled, lead-grey to dark purple; upper suture sigmoid; lower suture acute. Seed not seen. ( Fig. 54 ).

A MONOGRAPH OF DAVIESIA

Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press • 129 130 • Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press

CRISP ET AL.

Flowering period:— October to December. Fruiting period: December and January.

Distribution:— South-east Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales. Extends from the Bunya Mountains, north-west of Brisbane, southward to near Comboyne, New South Wales.

Habitat:— From coastal hills to mountain slopes and ridges, 50 to 1100 m in elevation, mostly on fine-textured soils, which may be derived from acid volcanic or metamorphic rocks. Daviesia arborea usually grows in wet sclerophyll forest dominated by tall eucalypts, Syncarpia glomulifera ( Smith 1797: 269) Niedenzu (1893: 88) and Lophostemon confertus ( Brown 1812: 417) Wilson & Waterhouse (1982: 424) . It is sometimes found on rainforest margins or in dry sclerophyll forest.

Selected specimens (88 examined):— QUEENSLAND. Moreton: Near North Tamborine , 27°55’S, 153°11’E, L. K . Bates 418, 12 November 1972 ( BRI); D’Anguilar Range , 27°22’S, 152°46’E, I. R . Telford 9009 & G . Butler, 21 January 1983 ( BISH, CBG, NSW); Beechmont Range , 28°02’S, 153°14’E, I. R . Telford 4134, 29 November 1979 ( CBG, NSW); Mt Nebo, near Brisbane , 27°23’S, 152°47’E, B. A . Lebler s.n., November 1972 ( BRI 147803 ); Mt Nebo , near Brisbane, 27°23’S, 152°47’E, B. A . Lebler s.n., 24 September 1972 ( BRI 147802 ) . NEW SOUTH WALES. North Coast: Near Comboyne East, 31°36’S, 152°29’E, E. F . Constable NSW 70265 , 14 October 1961 ( AD, MEL, NSW); Night Cap Range, Whian Whian State Forest , 18.6 km W of Mullumbimby, 28°34’S, 153°21’E, R . Coveny 4463 & A. N . Rodd, 4 September 1972 ( BRI, CANB, MEL, NSW); Brunswick Heads Nature Reserve , 28°32’S, 153°34’E, R . Coveny 12432, W . Bishop & L . Murray, 16 December 1986 ( CBG, NSW); Mistake State Forest , 30°43’S, 152°42’E, P . Gilmour 5897, 7 October 1986 ( BISH, CBG, NSW); near Carrai State Forest , 30°59’S, 152°20’E, H. C . Hayes & D. J . McGillivray 2479, 24 October 1966 ( NSW); Tellygram Range , 30°35’S, 152°21’E, J. B . Williams 685, November 1958 ( NSW). CULTIVATED. Australian National Botanic Gardens , Canberra, M . D. Crisp 8308, 24 October 1989 ( CBG); ex. Qld, Moreton, D’Aguilar Range (coll. I. R. Telford 9009) .

Affinity:— With its unique combination of arborescent growth habit and corky furrowed bark, D. arborea should not be confused with any other species except perhaps D. discolor . These are sister taxa ( Fig. 1A ) and share a distinctive phyllode morphology with a long, tapering and usually curved outline, discolorous surfaces, thin texture, and raised but fine longitudinal venation. They also appear to have the same unique dark grey to purple colouring in the fruits, although we have only seen weathered pods in D. discolor . The latter species may be distinguished from D. arborea by its multi-stemmed, shrubby habit, its lack of furrowed, corky bark, its smaller racemes with the rachis less than 10 mm long and only three to eight flowers, and its upper two calyx lobes not forming a truncate lip.

Daviesia laxiflora and D. suaveolens are the only other consistently arborescent species in the genus. In contrast to D. arborea , neither species has corky bark and their venation is open and not parallel.

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 54. Daviesia arborea. A. Flowering branchlet. B. Inflorescence, flowers showing calyces only. C. Flower. D. Calyx opened out, upper lobes at left. E. Standard. F. Wings. G. Keel. H, Same, opened out. I. Pod. A, B from Lebler s.n. (BRI 147802); C–H from Crisp 8308; I from Lebler s.n. (BRI 147803). Drawn by B-J. Osborne and D. Fortescue. Adapted from Crisp (1991a) with permission from CSIRO Publishing.