Daviesia mollis Turczaninow (1853: 263)

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

32. Daviesia mollis Turczaninow (1853: 263) , Bentham (1864: 74, partly), Crisp (1995: 1213). Type: ‘Drum. V. n. 39.’ Holotype: KW; isotypes: BM, FI-W, G, K (2 sheets), OXF, P, W

Spreading, intricate shrubs, 0.3–1 m high, softly hirsute to rarely hispid on vegetative parts, green beneath the indumentum. Root anatomy normal (unistelar). Branchlets terete, ribbed. Phyllodes scattered, erect, mostly elliptic (to broadly so), occasionally obovate (to broadly so) or orbicular, apically rounded to more rarely truncate, pungent or rigidly mucronate, marginally entire in the lower half and irregularly, shallowly crenulate in the upper half, basally cuneate and constricted to a short pseudo-petiole, inarticulate at branchlet, 9–27 × 7–15 mm. Seedling phyllodes

A MONOGRAPH OF DAVIESIA

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CRISP ET AL.

scattered, obovate with a rigid but not pungent apex, cuneate at base, 11–14 × 5–8 mm, sparsely scabrous. Unit inflorescences 1 or 2 per axil, umbellate or condensed-racemose, 3–5-flowered; peduncle 14–37 mm; rachis 0–2 mm; subtending bracts oblong to narrowly triangular, keeled, spreading at the tips, 0.5–2 mm long; barren bracts oblong, keeled, ca. 1 mm long. Pedicels 3–5 mm long, shiny and slightly viscid, thickened towards the apex, which is flanged. Calyx 4.5–5.5 mm long including the ca. 1 mm receptacle, hispid; upper 2 lobes united in a broad, truncate, emarginate lip, lobes almost flat with outcurved tips or flat and curving sharply upwards only at the tips and outcurved, ca. 2 mm long; lower 3 lobes triangular with recurved tips, 1–1.5 mm long. Corolla : standard broadly ovate, emarginate, 8 × 6.5–7.5 mm including the 1–1.5 mm claw, with a thickened base, yellow with a faint, thin red circle around the yellow basal patch; wings obovate with a rounded, slightly incurved apex, auriculate, 7–8 × 3 mm including the 1–2 mm claw, reddish with yellow margins at the tips; keel half transversely narrowly ovate, acute and incurved, strongly auriculate, strongly saccate, ca. 7.5–8 × 2 mm including the 2.5 mm claw. 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, narrower, basifixed, 2-celled anthers; filaments free. Pod obliquely very shallowly obtriangular, acuminate, 10–11 × 7–8 mm; upper suture strongly sigmoid; lower suture acute but broadly curved. Seed ellipsoid to globose, 3.9–4.3 mm long, 2.5–2.7 mm broad, 1.8–2 mm thick; aril 2.2–2.3 mm long. ( Fig. 33 ).

Flowering period:— September and October. Fruiting period: January.

Distribution:— Western Australia, Ravensthorpe Range and the hills of Fitzgerald River National Park; also recorded from from the Stirling Range.

Habitat:— Red stony soil in heathland dominated by Eucalyptus pleurocarpa .

Selected specimens (20 examined):— WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Eyre: 11 km ESE of Ravensthorpe , 0.5 km E of Mt Desmond, 33°37’S, 120°09’E, M . D. Crisp 4953, 9 January 1979 ( CBG, K, PERTH); Middle Mt Barren , 34°03’S, 119°41’E, C. A . Gardner 9153, 20 September 1948 ( PERTH); 1 km E of Elverdton Mine , 33°37’S, 120°09’E, K. R . Newbey 944, 15 September 1963 ( PERTH); Fitzgerald River National Park , 10 km SSW of Annie Peak, 33°56’S, 119°57’E, M . D. Crisp 5035, 11 January 1979 ( CBG, MEL, PERTH) .

Affinity:— Daviesia mollis closely resembles D. lancifolia and D. pedunculata . The phyllodes of D. lancifolia are similar, though generally much narrower (mostly up to 6 mm broad) and rarely orbicular; they also differ in being glaucescent, and glabrous or sparsely hirsute only on the midrib and margins. Daviesia pedunculata differs in having ovate to elliptic phyllodes (mostly <11 mm broad), the standard has a large and conspicuous central maroon patch with a vertical yellow stripe, and the pods are larger (15–18 mm long).

Figures

FIGURE 33. Daviesia mollis. A. Branchlet late in flowering. B. Infructescence. A, B from Crisp 4953. Drawn by B-J. Osborne.