Daviesia alata Smith (1808b: 259)

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

43. Daviesia alata Smith (1808b: 259) , Bentham (1864: 89), Crisp (1995: 1169), Crisp (2002: 526). Type: ‘...found by Dr White near Port Jackson...’ Holotype: LINN

Prostrate or procumbent shrubs to 1 m diam., with a woody rootstock, glabrous. Root anatomy normal (unistelar). Mature branchlets leafless and modified to cladodes, triquetrous, flattened or compressed, winged, 1.5–6 mm broad, smooth, dark green. Phyllodes reduced to scales or, in young plants, developed and narrowly obovate to linear and 30–60(–90) × 3–12 mm. Unit inflorescences 1 per axil, racemose, condensed, 2–5-flowered; peduncle 0.8–3.5 mm long; rachis 0–1 mm long; subtending bracts obovate to elliptic, markedly fimbriate, 2–4 mm long. Pedicel 1.5 mm long. Calyx 4.5–6 mm long including the 0.8–1.1 mm receptacle; lobes subequal, acuminate, fimbriate towards the base, ca. 2.5 mm long; upper 2 lobes united slightly higher, closer together and broader at the base than the lower 3. Corolla : standard depressed-ovate, emarginate, ca. 6–7 × 7 mm including the 1.5 mm claw, orange-red with a yellow centre; wings obovate with a rounded apex, strongly contracted towards the base, auriculate, ca. 6 × 2.5–3 mm including the 2 mm claw, maroon; keel half depressed-obovate, acute, auriculate, saccate, ca. 4 × 2 including the 1.5 mm claw, maroon. Stamens strongly dimorphic: inner whorl of 5 with shorter, terete, variable length filaments and shorter, round, versatile anthers with confluent thecae; outer whorl of 5 with longer, broader, compressed filaments and longer, oblong, 2-celled, basifixed anthers; filaments free. Pod obliquely shallowly obtriangular, acute, compressed, 9–10 × 6–7 mm; upper suture strongly sigmoid; lower suture acute. Seed oblong to ellipsoid to unevenly globose, slightly compressed, 2.5–2.7 mm long, 1.4–1.8 mm broad, 1.1–1.2 mm thick, pale brown with black mottling; aril 1.4–1.5 mm long. ( Fig. 42 ).

Flowering period:— October to December. Fruiting period: November to January.

A MONOGRAPH OF DAVIESIA

Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press • 103 104 • Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press

CRISP ET AL.

Distribution:— New South Wales, from Nelson Bay on the North Coast, south to Ben Boyd National Park on the south coast, and inland as far as the Blue Mountains and Mittagong in the Central Tablelands, and the Budawang Range in the Southern Tablelands.

Habitat:— Poor sandy to clayey soils over sandstone, in heath or dry sclerophyll forest.

Selected specimens (66 examined):— NEW SOUTH WALES. Central Tablelands : 0.5 km W of Wingello oval, 34°41’S, 150°10’E, M . D. Crisp 2497 ( CBG); Carrington Falls , 5.5 km SE of Robertson, 34°37’S, 150°37’E, M . D. Crisp 6774 ( BM, CBG, MEL, PERTH); 6.5 km from Penrose toward Bundanoon , 34°40’S, 150°16’E, M . D. Crisp 6789, 14 October 1980 ( AD, CBG, NSW, US). Southern Tablelands: Near Wog Wog Creek, 25 km from Mongarlowe toward Nerriga , 35°16’S, 150°02’E, M . D. Crisp 7936, 25 January 1987 ( CBG, JRAU, NSW) .

Affinity:— The only other species in the genus with phyllodes reduced to scales and narrowly winged, triquetrous cladodes is D. pteroclada . However, this species is not closely related to D. alata , differing in floral and fruiting morphology; for example, the bracts and calyx lobes are entire, and the peduncle of the raceme is very short (ca. 1 mm long). Also, D. pteroclada has an erect, broom-like habit.

Figures

FIGURE 42. Daviesia alata. A. Leafless flowering stem. B. Phyllode from a juvenile plant. C. Inflorescence. D. pod. A, C from Crisp 6774; B from Crisp 2497; D from Woolls s.n. (MEL 77407). Drawn by B-J. Osborne.