Daviesia pseudaphylla Crisp (1995: 1222)

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

Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press • 203 90. Daviesia pseudaphylla Crisp (1995: 1222) . Type [approximate locality data given because the species is rare]: Western Australia, Eyre , Stirling Range , 34°30’S, 118°20’E, K. Newbey 5113, 8 September 1978. Holotype: CBG; isotypes: AD, K, MEL, MO, NSW, PERTH

Low, open, spreading, glabrous shrubs, to 0.35 m high and 1.3 m broad, apparently increasing by root suckers; stems procumbent; internodes long (36 ± 15 mm s.d.). Root anatomy with anomalous secondary thickening (cord type). Branchlets terete, smooth when fresh, striate when dry. Phyllodes widely scattered, ascending, gently upcurved, terete, not pungent, inarticulate, continuous with and virtually indistinguishable from branchlets, up to 300 mm long, 0.75–1.5 mm diam., smooth when fresh, wrinkled-striate when dry, glaucous in summer, abruptly reduced to minute scales on some branchlets. Seedling phyllodes flat, to 8 mm broad. Unit inflorescences modified condensed racemes, with the lower flowers clustered due to condensation of the rachis, 2–3-flowered; peduncle from almost nil to 1 mm long; rachis ± nil; barren basal bracts forming an involucre, enclosing inflorescence at base, numerous, imbricate, shell-shaped, striate; subtending bracts erect, spathulate, shell-shaped, abruptly contracted between lamina and claw, partly fused to the pedicel. Pedicels equal to bracts, ca. 4 mm long. Calyx 3– 3.5 mm long; upper 2 lobes united in a bidentate lip, ca. 1 mm long; lower 3 lobes acuminate, ca. 1 mm long. Corolla : standard transversely broadly elliptic, 9–10 × 8–10 mm including the 2.5 mm claw, predominantly yellowish orange adaxially, dark purple with a yellow streak abaxially; wings obovate, auriculate, ca. 8 × 2.5 mm including the 2 mm claw, dark reddish; keel half broadly elliptic, scarcely acute, scarcely auriculate, saccate, ca. 6 × 2 mm including the 1.5 mm claw, dark reddish. Stamens strongly dimorphic: inner whorl of 5 with longer, terete filaments and round, versatile anthers with confluent thecae; outer whorl of 5 with shorter, compressed filaments and oblong, basifixed, 2-celled anthers; filaments free; vexillary filament rather thick and adaxially channelled. Pod obliquely shallowly obtriangular, scarcely acute, indented above the middle of the adaxial suture, 14–17(–20) × 9–10 mm; upper suture sigmoid; lower suture acute. Seed not seen. ( Fig. 90 ).

Flowering period:— July to September. Fruiting period: Unknown.

Distribution:— Known only from the vicinity of the type locality in Stirling Range National Park, Western Australia.

Habitat:— Grows in stony light grey sand on an exposed gentle south slope near the foot of the range in heath with emergent eucalypts and Lambertia .

Conservation status:— National: Endangered. WA: Critically Endangered, Declared Rare Flora.

Additional specimens examined:— Approximate locality data are given because the species is rare. WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Eyre: Stirling Range , 34°30’S, 118°20’E, M . D. Crisp 5264, 18 January 1979 ( CBG, PERTH); ibid., A. S . Weston 9481, 9 July 1974 ( L, PERTH) .

Affinity:— Daviesia pseudaphylla belongs to a natural group with moderately enlarged, shell-shaped, usually striate bracts which are imbricate and cover the rachis ( Crisp 1982a; 1984), including D. hakeoides , D. debilior and D. major . Within this group, D. debilior is closest to D. pseudaphylla , sharing with it a weak habit, non-pungent phyllodes and a tendency for the phyllodes to reduce abruptly to scales on the upper portion of the branchlets. Daviesia debilior differs from D. pseudaphylla in having costate branchlets and phyllodes, even when fresh, shorter internodes (15 mm ± 5 s.d.), no clear distinction between lamina and claw in the subtending bracts, smaller flowers (e.g. standard 6–6.5 mm broad, calyx 1.5–2 mm long), deep pink colouring with no central streak on the abaxial face of the standard, and a pod with no strong indentation on the adaxial suture.

Figures

FIGURE 90. Daviesia pseudaphylla. A. Flowering branchlet. B. Juvenile phyllode. C. Inflorescence. D. Pod. A, C from Newbey 5113 (type); B, D from Crisp 5264. Drawn by A.L. Prowse. Adapted from Crisp (1995) with permission from CSIRO Publishing.