Daviesia brevifolia Lindl.

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

106. Daviesia brevifolia Lindl. in Mitchell (1838: 200), Bentham (1864: 84), Crisp (1995: 1177), Jeanes (1996: 760), Craigie (2015: 30). Type: No explicit citation, but date (1 August 1836), and locality can be determined from the journal: Victoria, by the banks of the Glenelg River, just E of present day town Harrow, 37°09’S, 141°38’E. Holotype: Major Mitchell’s Expedition 268, 1 August 1836 (CGE); isotypes: K (3 sheets), MEL, W

Erect, rigid shrubs, to 1.8 m tall, glabrous, glaucescent or glaucous. Root anatomy with anomalous secondary thickening (cord type). Branchlets ascending, terete, longitudinally wrinkled when dry. Phyllodes scattered, divaricate to ascending and gently recurved, inconspicuous and often reduced to scales, terete, apex acuminate or acicular, pungent, especially towards the base of the branchlets, ± constricted at the base (on the adaxial side) when dry but not articulate, 2–8 mm long, 1–1.5 mm broad at the base, smooth when fresh, longitudinally wrinkled when dry. Juvenile phyllodes ascending, vertically compressed, dilated upwards, obliquely obovate to linearly elliptic, mucronate, midvein apparent, 15–30 × 2.5–10 mm, becoming adult after only 3 or 4 nodes. Unit inflorescences racemose, 1 per axil, 3 or 4-flowered; peduncle 1.5–2 mm long; rachis 1.5–2.5 mm long; barren basal bracts numerous, clustered at base of peduncle, ca. 0.5 mm long; subtending bracts oblong, spreading at tips, ca. 1 mm long. Pedicels 2–3.5 mm long, gently thickening towards the apex. Calyx prominently ribbed, 3–4 mm long including the ca. 0.75–1 mm receptacle; upper 2 lobes united into a broad, truncate lip, ca. 0.5 mm long; lower 3 lobes triangular, ca. 0.5–0.75 mm long. Corolla : standard transversely elliptic, emarginate, 6.5–8 × 6–8 mm including the 1.5–2 mm claw, with a very small central groove towards the base, orange with apricot to pink infusion towards the margin and deep red-brown to maroon centre and radiating veins, fading to yellow and grey; wings obovate with a rounded, incurved apex that encloses the keel, auriculate, 7–7.5 × 2.25–2.75 mm including the 2–2.5 mm claw, deep pink-red; keel half very broadly ovate, with an acicular beak, saccate, 7.5–8 × 2 mm including the 3.5–4 mm claw, red with a dark tip. Stamens slightly dimorphic: inner whorl of 5 with longer, slender, terete filaments and shorter, round, versatile anthers; outer whorl of 5 with shorter, broader, compressed filaments and much longer, oblong, basifixed anthers; anthers all 2-celled; filaments free. Pod obliquely shallowly to very broadly obtriangular with an acute apex, turgid, 9–15 × 8–12 mm; upper suture undulate; lower suture acute to ca. 90°. Seed obloid, with a slightly raised radicular lobe, 2.9–4.2 mm long, 1.7–3 mm broad, 1.5–2.5 mm thick, black to brown; aril 1.5–2 mm long. ( Fig. 107 ).

Common name:— Leafless Bitter-pea.

Flowering period:— August to October. Fruiting period: October to December.

Distribution:— South Australia and Victoria: from southern Eyre Peninsula (around Mt Hope and Port Lincoln) to Kangaroo Island, Mt Lofty and Flinders Ranges as far north as Hawker, and through the south-east of South Australia and into western Victoria as far east as Geelong. Records from Western Australia are misidentifications, probably of the very similar D. brachyphylla , which was previously placed within D. brevifolia as var. ephedroides .

Habitat:— Occurs in sandy, gravelly, loamy or ironstone soils, in a variety of habitats from dry, sandy ridges to semi-swampy land in Eucalyptus -dominated open forest or mallee or heath dominated by Allocasuarina and Banksia .

Selected specimens (338 examined):— SOUTH AUSTRALIA. Eyre Peninsula : SE end of Marble Range (ca. 45 km NW of Port Lincoln), 34°24’S, 135°34’E , D.J. E. Whibley 1877, 25 August 1967 ( AD); 1.8 km NW of New West Road intersection along Flinders Highway, then 5.9 km WSW on road past Gleneagle Homestead, 34°45’S, 135°45’E , J. D. Briggs 1183, 15 September 1983 ( AD, CBG). Flinders Ranges : Yourambulla, ca. 10 km S of Hawker, 31°57’S, 138°23’E , N. N. Donner 543, 3 September 1962 ( AD, NY); near Spencers Gulf , O. W. Sonder s.n. ( MEL 77743 ). Lofty North: Black Hills, ca. 15 km E of Burra, 33°41’S, 139°08’E , N. N. Donner 4769, 23 April 1974 ( AD, CANB). Lofty South : Highbury East, sandy soil along Torrens Road, 34°51’S, 138°43’E , T. Smith 173, 3 September 1967 ( AD); 8 km SE of Aldgate towards Mylor, 35°02’S, 138°44’E , M.D. Crisp 1868, 27 December 1975 ( CBG, PERTH, US); 5 km S of Ashbourne , 35°17’S, 138°46’E , D. J. E. Whibley 837, 16 September

A MONOGRAPH OF DAVIESIA

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CRISP ET AL.

1962 ( AD, PR, SI); Forest Range , ca. 30 km E of Adelaide, 34°55’S, 138°48’E, J. B . Cleland s.n., 18 October 1947 ( AD 96803494 ); Cox’s Scrub National Park , ca. 55 km SSE of Adelaide, 35°20’S, 138°45’E, B. C . Crisp 119, 31 October 1971 ( AD). Kangaroo Island: Vivonne Bay, opposite store on Main South Coast Road, 50 km E of Harriet River, 35°58’S, 137°11’E, J. G . West 1305, 27 December 1975 ( CANB, NSW); Flinders Chase, Shackle Road by Breakneck River , ca. 13 km N of the Old Rocky River Homestead, 35°55’S, 136°38’E, P. G . Wilson 669, 3 November 1958 ( AD, L). Murray Basin: Ferries-McDonald National Park , ca. 16 km SW of Murray Bridge, 35°13’S, 139°09’E, J . Carrick 3392, 22 August 1973 ( AD, MEL); north end of Scorpion Springs Conservation Park , S of Pinnaroo, 35°30’S, 140°55’E, D. E . Symon 8617 B , 22 October 1973 ( AD). South East : Jip Jip Rocks, ca. 30 km NW of Padthaway, 36°23’S, 140°15’E, T. R. N . Lothian 2866, 22 August 1964 ( AD). VICTORIA. Northern Plains : Big Desert, 13 km E of the South Australian Border and 35 km N of the Western Highway , 36°04’S, 141°09’E, H. I . Aston 1025, 30 September 1963 ( MEL); County of Follett , F. M . Reader s.n., 15 October 1905 ( MEL 77770 ); Big Desert, Wyperfeld National Park , 35°32’S, 141°58’E, P . D. Cheal s.n., 26 September 1978 ( MEL 0541242 A). Western Plains: Wimmera, Davis s.n., 1890 ( MEL 80991 ); Little Desert, N of East – West Access Track , 36°34’S, 141°32’E, M. G . Corrick 6795 & P. S . Short, 4 October 1980 ( CANB, MEL). Western Highlands: Grampians, junction Victoria Valley Road and Harrops Track , K . Czornij 506, 15 August 1971 ( AD, CANB); 3 km N of Dunkeld, NW base of Mt Sturgeon , 37°37’S, 142°20’E, M . D. Crisp 7969 per C. E . & D.T. Woolcock, 17 February 1987 ( CBG, NSW); ca. 5.7 km along Range Road from main Casterton–Dartmoor road, 37°49’S, 141°20’E, P. S . Short 1335, 1 October 1981 ( CANB, MEL) .

Affinity:— This species is similar to Daviesia brachyphylla , which differs in having phyllodes that are articulate and ± thickened at the base. Also, the juvenile phyllodes of D. brachyphylla are terete and not dilated upwards, the ribs on the calyx are less prominent and the upper 2 calyx lobes not united into a broad, truncate lip.

Figures

FIGURE 107. Daviesia brevifolia. A. Flowering branchlet. B. Inflorescence with floral parts removed, except calyces. C. Pod. A, B from T. Smith 173; C from Crisp 1868. Drawn by A.L. Prowse.