| Feather bush-pea | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
 Priority Three — Poorly Known Taxa (DEC) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Fabales |
| Family: | Fabaceae |
| Subfamily: | Faboideae |
| Genus: | Pultenaea |
| Species: | P. vestita |
| Binomial name | |
| Pultenaea vestita R.Br. | |
Pultenaea vestita, commonly known as feather bush-pea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to south-western continental Australia. It is an erect to prostrate, sometimes mat-forming shrub with elliptic to linear or lance-shaped leaves, and yellow and red, pea-like flowers.
Description
Pultenaea vestita is an erect to prostrate, sometimes mat-forming shrub that typically grows to a height of 20–50 cm (7.9–19.7 in) with hairy branchlets. The leaves are elliptic to linear or lance-shaped, mostly 5–9 mm (0.20–0.35 in) long and 0.8–1.8 mm (0.031–0.071 in) wide with stipules 2.8–5.5 mm (0.11–0.22 in) long at the base. The leaves are concave to channelled on the upper surface. The flowers are 8–10 mm (0.31–0.39 in) long, sessile and usually arranged in dense heads on the ends of branches surrounded by enlarged, two-lobed stipules up to 6 mm (0.24 in) long. The sepals are 7.0–8.5 mm (0.28–0.33 in) long and joined at the base with tapering lobes and bracteoles 6–7 mm (0.24–0.28 in) long at the base. The standard petal is yellow to red and 8.5–9.2 mm (0.33–0.36 in) long, the wings yellow to red and 7.0–8.5 mm (0.28–0.33 in) long, and the keel crimson and 7.5–8.3 mm (0.30–0.33 in) long. Flowering occurs from November to January and the fruit is a slightly flattened pod.
Taxonomy
Pultenaea vestita was first formally described in 1811 by Robert Brown in William Aiton's Hortus Kewensis. The specific epithet (vestita) means "clothed", referring to the overlapping stipules.
Distribution and habitat
Feather bush-pea grows in forest, heathland and mallee in Western Australia around Esperance and in South Australia on the Yorke and Eyre Peninsulas and on Kangaroo Island.
Conservation status
Pultenaea vestita is classified as "Priority Three" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.
References
- ^ "Pultenaea vestita". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ "Pultenaea vestita". State Herbarium of South Australia. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ "Pultenaea vestita". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
- ^ de Kok, Rogier; West, Judith G. (2003). "A revision of the genus Pultenaea (Fabaceae) 2. Eastern Australian species with velutinous ovaries and incurved leaves". Australian Systematic Botany. 16 (2): 266. doi:10.1071/SB01019.
- "Pultenaea vestita". APNI. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- Brown, Robert (1811). William Aiton (ed.). Hortus Kewensis. Vol. 3 (2 ed.). London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown. p. 19. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 335. ISBN 9780958034180.
- "Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna" (PDF). Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. Retrieved 19 September 2021.