Daviesia triflora Crisp (1984: 160)

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

89. Daviesia triflora Crisp (1984: 160) , Crisp (1987a: 254), Crisp (1995: 1239). Type: 0.6 km W of intersection of Coorow–Green Head road with Brand Hwy, 30°05’S, 115°19’E, C. Chapman (16)76, 4 July 1976. Holotype: CBG; isotypes: AD, K, MEL, PERTH

Rush-like, many-stemmed shrubs, to 0.6 m high, glabrous. Root anatomy with anomalous secondary thickening (cord type). Branchlets erect, terete, subspinescent at tips, smooth when fresh, finely striate when dry. Phyllodes all reduced to scales. Unit inflorescences 1 per axil, condensed racemes, strictly 3-flowered; peduncle ca. 2 mm long; rachis ca. 1.5 mm long, produced into an erect, slender, sterile bristle that is ca. 4 mm long, ending in a cluster of reflexed, barren bracts; barren basal bracts forming an involucre, shell-shaped; subtending bracts spreading, hooded, cuneate or oblong, truncate, imbricate, 5–6 mm long, not fused to the pedicel. Pedicels 3–6 mm long. Calyx campanulate, 2.5–3.5 mm long including the 0.75 mm receptacle, which is abruptly contracted to the pedicel; upper 2 lobes united in a truncate, emarginate lip, ca. 1.25 mm long; lower 3 lobes shorter, apiculate, ca. 1 mm long. Corolla : standard very broadly ovate, emarginate, cordate, 8–9 × 7.5–8 mm including the 1.5 mm claw, yellow or orange-yellow with a dark red centre; wings obliquely obovate with a rounded apex, auriculate, 6–6.5 × 2.5 mm including the ca. 2 mm claw, dark red; keel transversely to transversely broadly elliptic, acute, falcate, auriculate, saccate, 5–5.5 × 2 mm including the ca. 2 mm claw, dark red. Stamens strongly dimorphic: inner whorl of 5 with longer, slender, terete filaments and shorter, round anthers with confluent thecae; outer whorl of 5 with shorter, broader, compressed filaments and longer, oblong, 2-celled anthers; filaments free. Pod obliquely shallowly obtriangular, acute, compressed, 10–20 × 6–9 mm; upper suture sigmoid; lower suture acute. Seed obloid, ca. 4 mm long, 2.25 mm broad, 1.25 mm thick, tan with black mottling; aril thickly lobed, oblong in outline, ca. 2 mm long. ( Fig. 89 ).

Chromosome number:— 2n = 18; voucher Sands 637.5.6 ( Sands 1975).

Flowering period:— May to September. Fruiting period: September and October.

Distribution:— Western Australia, mainly on the coastal sandplains from near Mullewa south to Perth.

Habitat:— Grows on sand or occasionally gravelly lateritic soil, in heath dominated by Allocasuarina , Banksia , Adenanthos , Callitris and/or Eucalyptus todtiana Mueller (1882: 171) , and in open forest dominated by Eucalyptus marginata , E. gomphocephala Candolle (1828: 320) or E. wandoo .

Selected specimens (62 examined):— WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Irwin: 7 km S of Marchagee , 30°07’S, 116°03’E, M . D. Crisp 6494, 16 July 1980 ( CBG, PERTH); 148 km NNW of Gingin by road, 30°12’S, 115°23’E, T. E. H . Aplin 3185 & R . Coveny, 2 September 1970 ( K, L, NSW, PERTH). Darling: Kewdale , 31°58’S, 115°58’E, R . Coveny 8219, 7 September 1976 ( CANB, NSW); ca. 1 km along Karel Avenue from Hope road, Jandakot , 32°07’S, 115°51’E, T. R . Lally 564 & B . Lepschi, 2 July 1995 ( CANB, PERTH); Subiaco , 31°57’S, 115°49’E, A . Morrison s.n., 12 October 1907 ( CANB 336593 ); 38 km N of Muchea along Brand Highway, 31°15’S, 115°49’E, M . D. Crisp 6455, 15 July 1980 ( CBG, MEL); 10 km N of Regans Ford, 26 km S of Cataby, Brand Highway , 30°55’S, 115°39’E, M . D. Crisp 6463, 15 July 1980 ( CBG, NSW); Bull Creek, Canning River , S of Perth, 34°02’S, 116°33’E, J. R . Knox 650705, July 1965 ( PERTH) .

Affinity:— Daviesia triflora belongs to group of species closely related to D. hakeoides with moderately enlarged, shell-shaped, usually striate bracts which are imbricate and cover the rachis ( Crisp 1982a; 1984), and within this group, most closely resembles D. gracilis and D. debilior subsp. sinuans in being totally leafless. Daviesia debilior differs in having a variable number of flowers (2–4) in the inflorescence, bracts which are all spirally arranged, a receptacle which is more or less tapered to the pedicel, weak, more or less sinuous branchlets and smaller flowers (e.g. calyx 1.5–2 mm long, standard 6–6.5 mm broad). Daviesia gracilis differs in its variable number of flowers (3–5), bracts that are all spirally arranged, calyx with greenish-yellow lobes, 2 triangular upper lobes separated by a distinct (0.75 mm deep) sinus and by the tapering receptacle.

A MONOGRAPH OF DAVIESIA

Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press • 201 202 • Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press

CRISP ET AL.

A MONOGRAPH OF DAVIESIA

Figures

FIGURE 89. Daviesia triflora. A. Branchlets in flower and bud. B. Inflorescence. C. Pod. A, B from Crisp 6494; C from Coveny 8219. Drawn by A.L. Prowse.