Daviesia eremaea Crisp (1980a: 271)

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

66. Daviesia eremaea Crisp (1980a: 271) , Crisp (1981: 149), Crisp (1995: 1192). Type: Northern Territory, Central Australia South, 12 miles [19 km] NE of Narwietooma Station, 23°11’S, 132°47’E, M. Lazarides 5991, 15 September 1956, fl. & photo. Holotype: CANB; isotypes: AD, BRI, CANB, K, NT, PERTH, US

Multi-stemmed shrubs, 0.9–2 m high, glabrous. Root anatomy unknown. Branchlets erect, terete, smooth when fresh, slightly wrinkled when dry. Phyllodes scattered, erect, terete, apically acicular and ± pungent, thickened at the base, articulate, 40–120(–170) mm long, ca. 1(–1.5) mm diam., wrinkled when dry. Unit inflorescences 1 or 2 per axil, racemose, 2–5-flowered; peduncle 1–2 mm long; rachis 2–7 mm long; subtending bracts spreading to reflexed, spathulate, hooded, ca. 1 mm long. Pedicel slender, 4–8 mm long. Calyx obliquely campanulate, 3.5–4.5 mm long including the 1.5–2 mm long receptacle to which it is abruptly contracted at the base of the tube; lobes equal, subapiculate, ca. 0.5 mm long. Corolla : standard transversely elliptic, retuse, slightly cordate, ca. 6 × 7 mm including the ca. 2 mm claw, yellow marginally, grading to red at the centre; wings obovate-oblong, auriculate, with small lobes opposite on the abaxial margin, ca. 5 mm long including the 1.5–2 mm claw, red; keel half transversely broadly obovate, truncate on the upper margin, obtuse, auriculate, ca. 4.5 × 2 mm including the ca. 1.5 mm claw, red. Stamens strongly dimorphic: inner whorl of 5 with shorter, compressed filaments and subglobular, subdorsifixed anthers with confluent thecae; outer whorl of 5 with longer, upwardly dilated filaments and larger, oblong, basifixed, 2-celled anthers; filaments free. Pod obliquely very broadly obtriangular, acute, compressed, 7– 8 × (5.5–) 6.5–7 mm; upper suture sigmoid; lower suture acute to semi-circular. Seed not seen. ( Fig. 66 ).

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

Distribution:— Central Australia, from north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, south-west towards the South Australian Border, and in Western Australia west to the Pilbara and south-east to the Great Victoria Desert.

Habitat:— Grows on red sand, often at the base of dunes, in grassland with Triodia spp. and either Allocasuarina decaisneana ( Mueller 1858: 61) Johnson (1982: 74) or mallee eucalypts, e.g. Eucalyptus gamophylla Mueller (1878: 40) , or in skeletal, gravelly red soils over ironstone on mountain slopes with mallee, spinifex hummock-grassland ( Triodia ) or heath with Acacia or Pimelea Banks & Sol. ex Gaertner (1878: 186) .

Selected specimens (21 examined):— WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Fortescue: Mt Tom Price , 22°46’S, 117°47’E, K . J . Atkins HI-1163, 29 September 1980 (formerly KARR, now in PERTH); Hamersley Range, 9.3 km W of Wildflower Mountain, 18.1 km WNW of Packsaddle Mining Camp, 16.4 km NNW of Mt Meharry , 22°50’S, 118°32’E, S. van Leeuwen 2015 , 23 August 1995 ( CANB, PERTH) . Keartland: Little Sandy Desert, 18.2 km SSE of Lake Sunshine , 24º43’S, 120º43’E, S. van Leeuwen 5143, 6 September 2002 ( CANB, PERTH) . NORTHERN TERRITORY. Central Australia South : Ca. 122 km NE of Mt Davies Camp, P . K . Latz 943, 2 November 1970 ( AD, DNA, NT); 12 km S of Mt Currie , 25°06’S, 130°33’E, P . K . Latz 5751, 23 September 1974 ( AD, CANB, DNA, NT, PERTH); Lake Neale area , 24°28’S, 130°22’E, J . R . Maconochie 1897, 28 August 1973 ( NT); Lake Neale–Amadeus area , 24°28’S, 130°25’E, J . R . Maconochie 1900, 28 August 1973 (DNA, NT); 11 km S of ‘ Mount Wedge’ homestead, 22°57’S, 131°50’E, D. J . Nelson 99, 18 October 1961 ( CANB, NT) .

Affinity:— Daviesia eremaea is closely related to D. genistifolia and D. benthamii , both of which have phyllodes that are shorter (<80 mm long, generally <50 mm) and divergent at 45–90° to the branchlet. Daviesia genistifolia has phyllodes that articulate at the branchlet and the pedicel is <2 mm long. Daviesia benthamii has phyllodes that are rigid, continuous with the branchlet, often much reduced in number and size, and the pedicel is rarely longer than 4 mm.

A MONOGRAPH OF DAVIESIA

Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press • 153 154 • Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press

CRISP ET AL.

Figures

FIGURE 66. Daviesia eremaea. A. Branchlet with immature fruit. B. Inflorescence with immature fruit. C. Pod. A, B from Lazarides 5991 (type); C from Latz 5751. Drawn by B-J. Osborne.