Daviesia ovata Bentham (1864: 72)

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

25. Daviesia ovata Bentham (1864: 72) , Crisp (1995: 1217). Type: ‘W. Australia, Drummond, n. 23.’ Holotype: K; isotype: MEL

Dense, bushy shrubs, to 1.8 m high, glabrous. Root anatomy unknown. Branchlets ascending, angular to broadly so, prominently ribbed. Phyllodes scattered, ascending, ovate to elliptic, acute to slightly acuminate, mucronate, 28–77 × 14–37 mm; base cuneate with a short (1–2 mm) petiole-like stalk, inarticulate and decurrent; margins scarcely crenulate; venation prominently reticulate. Unit inflorescence 1 per axil, a condensed raceme, 8–11-flowered; peduncle angular, 14–30 mm long, topped by 2 circular, herbaceous involucral bracts that are 4–7 mm broad, enlarging in fruit to 18–35 mm and becoming scarious; rachis 5.5–7 mm long; subtending bracts ascending, narrowly triangular, 1–2 mm long; barren bracts scattered along the peduncle, narrowly triangular, 2–3 mm long. Pedicels 3.5–7 mm long. Calyx 4.5–5.5 mm long including the 1–1.5 mm receptacle; upper 2 lobes united in a truncate, emarginate lip, ca. 1.5 mm long; lower 3 lobes triangular, ca. 1 mm long. Corolla : standard transversely elliptic, emarginate, 7–8 × 8–9.5 mm including the 2–2.5 mm claw, orange with a small red ring around the yellow centre; wings oblong with a rounded and incurved apex enclosing the keel, auriculate, with a slight lobe on the abaxial margin, ca. 6.5–10.5 × 2.5 mm including the 2.5 mm claw, maroon; keel half circular, inflated, saccate, ca. 6 × 2 mm including the 2 mm claw, maroon. Stamens strongly dimorphic: inner whorl of 5 with longer, slender, terete filaments and shorter, round, versatile anthers with confluent thecae; outer whorl of 5 with shorter, broader, compressed filaments and longer, oblong, basifixed, 2-celled anthers; filaments cohering. Pod obliquely shallowly obtriangular, acuminate, ca. 14 × 7 mm; upper suture slightly sigmoid; lower suture obtuse. Seed not seen. ( Fig. 26 ).

A MONOGRAPH OF DAVIESIA

Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press • 71 72 • Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press

CRISP ET AL.

Flowering period:— September. Fruiting period: November and December.

Distribution:— Localised near the coast, east of Albany, Western Australia.

Habitat:— Grows among granite rocks on slopes or tops of rises in low mallee-heath or shrubland dominated by Eucalyptus acies Brooker and E. marginata with a large shrub understorey.

Conservation status:— National: Not listed. WA: Critically Endangered, Declared Rare Flora.

Selected specimens (10 examined):— Approximate locality data given because the species is rare. WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Darling: E of Albany , 34°50’S, 118°20’E, J . Taylor 1928 & P . Ollerenshaw , 18 September 1983 ( CBG, MEL, PERTH); ibid., E . Swainson s.n. & D. Davidson, 30 August 1983 ( CBG 8316707 ); ibid., C. A . Gardner 3309, 5 September 1935 ( CANB, PERTH) .

Affinity:— Similar to D. alternifolia and D. oppositifolia . Daviesia alternifolia differs in having obovate phyllodes that are much narrower (4–13 mm broad) and taper to the base, lacking a petiole-like stalk. Also, the unit inflorescence of D. alternifolia is umbellate with fewer flowers (two or three) and has hispid hairs on the peduncle, pedicels and calyx, unlike D. ovata . Daviesia oppositifolia has obovate phyllodes that taper to an often petiole-like base and has three (not two) large, herbaceous involucral bracts at the base of the inflorescence, and these are cucullate (not flat), smaller (ca. 15 mm broad when in fruit) and coriaceous in contrast to the paper-thin bracts of D. ovata .

Figures

FIGURE 26. Daviesia ovata. A. Branchlets with infructescence. B. Phyllode. C. Pod. A, B from Drummond 23 (holotype); C from Drummond s.n. (MEL 79643 (?isotype). Drawn by A.L. Prowse.