Pultenaea scabra

Pultenaea scabra, commonly known as rough bush-pea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is an erect or spreading shrub with hairy stems, heart-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and yellow and red, pea-like flowers.

Description

Pultenaea scabra is an erect or spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of Template:Cvt and has densely hairy stems. The leaves are arranged alternately, wedge-shaped to heart-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, Template:Cvt long, Template:Cvt wide with triangular to lance-shaped stipules Template:Cvt long at the base. The edges of the leaves curve down or are rolled under and there is a small point on the end. The flowers are arranged in usually dense clusters of more than three, each flower on a pedicel Template:Cvt long with more or less round bracts Template:Cvt long at the base and hairy bracteoles Template:Cvt long attached at the base of the sepal tube. The sepals are Template:Cvt long, the standard petal is yellow with a red base and Template:Cvt long, the wings are yellow and red and shorter than the standard, and the keel is dark red to crimson, and about the same length as the wings. Flowering occurs from September to November and the fruit is a flattened, egg-shaped pod Template:Cvt long.

Taxonomy

Pultenaea scabra was first formally described in 1811 by Robert Brown in Hortus Kewensis. The specific epithet (scabra) means "rough".

Distribution and habitat

Rough bush-pea grows in heathland and forest south of Rylstone in New South Wales, in southern Victoria, mainly south and east of the Great Dividing Range, and in the far south-east of South Australia.