Daviesia grossa Crisp (1995: 1196)

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

117. Daviesia grossa Crisp (1995: 1196) . Type: Western Australia, Eyre, Mt Ragged Range , 2.5 km S of Tower Peak , 33°28’S, 123°28’E, M. D. Crisp 4808, 6 January 1979. Holotype: CBG; isotypes: K, MEL, PERTH

Broombush-like shrubs to 3 m high, glabrous, glaucous to pruinose. Root anatomy with anomalous secondary thickening (cord type). Branchlets ascending, terete, smooth when fresh, striate when dry. Phyllodes crowded, erect, linear-fusiform, apically acuminate, fiercely pungent, basally articulate, 25–55 mm long, 1.5–2.5 mm diam., smooth when fresh, striate when dry. Unit inflorescences 1 per axil, racemose, 2- or 3-flowered; peduncle 6–10 mm long, striate; rachis 1.5–10 mm long, striate; subtending bracts spreading, oblong, tips somewhat fimbriate, ca. 1 mm long. Pedicels thickening towards the apex, striate, 3–15 mm long. Calyx 7–8 mm long including the 2.5–3.5 mm receptacle; lobes ca. 1 mm long; upper 2 lobes united in a narrow, truncate lip; lower 3 lobes acuminate. Corolla : standard transversely to very broadly elliptic, emarginate, 14.5–17 × 13–20 mm including the 2–2.5 mm claw, with 2 small calli at the base of the lamina, yellow infused centrally with dark red; wings obliquely obovate, incurved and overlapping at apex to enclose the keel, auriculate, 14.5–17.5 × 4.5–6.75 mm including the 2.5–3 mm claw, dull red with a yellow abaxial margin; keel half ovate, acute, auriculate, saccate, 15–15.5 × 3.5–4.25 mm including the ca. 4.5 mm claw, dull dark red. Stamens weakly dimorphic: inner whorl of 5 with longer, subcompressed filaments and shorter, subdorsifixed anthers; outer whorl of 5 with shorter, compressed filaments and longer, basifixed anthers; filaments cohering towards base, free; anthers all 2-celled. Pod obliquely shallowly obtriangular with an acicular beak, turgid, 15–20 × 10–14 mm; upper suture straight; lower suture acute. Seed ellipsoid, 4.7–6.3 mm long, 3.2–3.5 mm broad, 2.3–3 mm thick, brown, with or without black mottling, sometimes creamy with black mottling; aril 2.3–3 mm long. ( Fig. 118 ).

Flowering period:— November to April. Fruiting period: November to August.

Distribution:— Western Australia, where known only from Mt Ragged, Russell Range.

Habitat:— Rocky schist soils with skeletal sand on exposed rocky slopes or rock crevices in heath with Eucalyptus tetraptera Turczaninow (1849: 22) , Allocasuarina , Banksia and Melaleuca .

Additional specimens examined:— WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Eyre: Mt Ragged , 33°27’S, 123°28’E, A. S . George 2082, 7 December 1960 ( PERTH); Mt Ragged , 33°27’S, 123°28’E, A. S . George 7425, 19 January 1966 ( PERTH); Tower Hill, Mt Ragged , 33°27’S, 123°28’E, M. I. H . Brooker 4497, 10 April 1974 ( PERTH); Mt Ragged, Russell Range , 33°27’S, 123°28’E, C. A . Gardner s.n., October 1931 ( PERTH 5197031 ); Mt Ragged , ca. 0.25 the way up to summit, 33°27’S, 123°28’E, M. A . Clements 2001, 15 August 1980 ( CBG); Mt Ragged range, 2.5 km S of Tower Peak, 33°28’S, 123°28’E, M . D. Crisp 4821, 6 January 1979 ( CBG); base of Mt Ragged, ca. 150 km ENE of Esperance, Cape Arid National Park , K . Newbey 8061, 4 November 1980 ( PERTH). CULTIVATED. Australian National Botanic Gardens nursery, ex . Western Australia, Eyre, Mt Ragged , M . D. Crisp 7096, 2 February 1983 ( CBG) .

Affinity:— There are several other species of Daviesia with erect, terete, striate, more or less pungent phyllodes that are articulate at the stem, namely D. apiculata , D. lineata , D. oxylobium and D. teretifolia . Daviesia grossa has conspicuously larger and coarser parts than all these, in which the flowers are no more than 10 mm long, the standard is <10 mm broad, and the phyllodes are not more than 1.5 mm diam.

The closest relative of D. grossa appears to be D. teretifolia , a widespread species along the south coast of Western Australia. The latter is very similar to D. grossa , differing mainly in having smaller parts; also, the wings are scarcely incurved at the apex and not overlapping. The size differences between these species are maintained in cultivation. Daviesia teretifolia is sympatric with D. grossa , growing in the heathland around the base of the Russell Range, on the slopes of which D. grossa is found. There is no suggestion of morphological intergradation between these species; moreover, D. teretifolia flowers in winter and spring, whilst D. grossa flowers in summer and autumn.

Figures

FIGURE 118. Daviesia grossa. A. Flowering branchlet. B. Inflorescence, floral parts except calyces omitted. C. Pod. A–C from Crisp 4808 (type). Drawn by A.L. Prowse. Adapted from Crisp (1995) with permission from CSIRO Publishing.