Daviesia speciosa Crisp (1995: 1237)

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

85. Daviesia speciosa Crisp (1995: 1237) . Type [approximate locality data given because the species is rare]: Western Australia , Irwin , Eneabba area, 29°50’S, 115°30’E, C. Chapman s.n., 8 April 1980. Holotype: CBG 8002488 ; isotypes: AD, BRI, CANB, K, L, MEL, MO, NSW, PERTH, US

Low shrubs with multiple stems ascending (or resprouting) from a woody rootstock, 0.3–0.8 m high and up to 1 m wide, glabrous, pruinose. Root anatomy with anomalous secondary thickening (cord type). Shoots terminated by a crown of phyllodes that abruptly reduce to scale leaves on lower parts of stems; branchlets terete, robust (2.5 mm diam.), with a pithy core, smooth when fresh, striate with wrinkled anastomosing veins when dry. Phyllodes erect, continuous with the branchlets and distinguishable from them only because the latter are subtended by phyllodes or

192 • Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press

CRISP ET AL.

scale-leaves, gently incurved, terete, rigid, apically acicular, robustly pungent, 15–80 mm long, ca. 2 mm diam.; scale-leaves black, subulate, 1–2 mm long. Juvenile phyllodes horizontally compressed, thick, linear. Unit inflorescences mostly subtended by scale-leaves below the crown of fully developed phyllodes, 1 per axil, condensed-racemose, 1(2)-flowered; peduncle 3–4 mm long; rachis 2–6 mm long; barren basal bracts imbricate, ovate, striate, 2–3 mm long; subtending bracts spreading, linear-spathulate, with margins incurved, striate, 8–10

A MONOGRAPH OF DAVIESIA

Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press • 193 mm long, red inside, pruinose outside. Pedicels filiform, difficult to distinguish from the stipe-like receptacle, 5–15 mm long. Flowers nodding, 22–25 mm long. Calyx ventricose, 8–11 mm long including the 3–4 mm receptacle; lobes nearly equal, acuminate, ca. 2 mm long, pruinose. Corolla red; standard ovate, entire, reflexing only 45–60°, remaining folded longitudinally and with margins incurved, thus appearing narrow, acute, tapered to base, deeply channelled at the base, ca. 20–23 × 15–17 mm including the 2–3 mm claw; wings narrowly ovate, acute, with apices incurved to expose the keel, giving the appearance of being beaked, not overlapping, auriculate, saccate, ca. 20–22 × 4.5–5 mm including the 2 mm claw; keel half ovate, falciform, acute, auriculate, ca. 23–25 × 5.5 mm including the 2.5–3.5 mm claw. Stamens weakly dimorphic: anthers all 2-celled; inner whorl of 5 with distinctly longer filaments and subdorsifixed, shorter anthers; outer whorl of 5 with shorter filaments and longer, basifixed anthers; filaments free, sigmoid and strongly compressed at base, becoming terete distally. Pod apparently never set. ( Fig. 85 ).

Flowering period:— April and May. Fruiting period: Unknown.

Distribution:— Western Australia, Irwin, between Eneabba and Mingenew.

Habitat:— Gravelly soils in heath dominated by multiple species of Melaleuca , with Banksia and emergent Eucalyptus gittinsii .

Conservation status:— National: Endangered. WA: Endangered, Declared Rare Flora.

Selected specimens (12 examined:— Approximate locality data are given because the species is rare. WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Irwin: Near Mingenew , 29°10’S, 115°30’E, C. A . Gardner s.n., September 1958 ( PERTH 5475694 ); W of Winchester , 29°50’S, 115°30’E, C . Chapman (3)76, 7 May 1976 ( CBG, MO, NSW, PERTH); ibid., C . Chapman s.n., June 1979 ( CBG 7906517 ); S of Mingenew , 29°20’S, 115°30’E, M . D. Crisp 10856, 24 September 2010 ( CANB, PERTH) .

Affinity:— Daviesia speciosa is one of the most bizarre species in the genus, and could not be confused with any other. Even though the flowers are modified and enlarged (presumably for bird-pollination, Crisp 1994, Toon et al. 2014), and despite the absence of pods, which are a diagnostic feature of the genus, this is clearly a Daviesia , as evidenced by the vegetative morphology and inflorescence structure. Only D. cunderdin and D. epiphyllum have similar, enlarged red flowers, apparently modified for specialised bird-pollination. Daviesia epiphyllum is the sister species of D. speciosa (clade VII.d, Fig. 1B ) but may be readily distinguished by its flattened phylloclades with all phyllodes apparently reduced to scales, and smaller bracts (ca. 2 mm long), as well as subtle differences in the floral structure. Daviesia cunderdin can be easily distinguished by its elliptic to ovate phyllodes, the 1-flowered inflorescences and the smaller flowers (e.g. standard 12–15 mm long), with large, prominent calli on the standard-petal.

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 85. Daviesia speciosa. A. Flowering branchlet. B. Inflorescence. A, B from Chapman s.n. (CBG 8002488; type). Drawn by A.L. Prowse. Adapted from Crisp (1995) with permission from CSIRO Publishing.