''Austrocallerya australis'', commonly known as native wisteria, blunt wisteria or Samson's sinew in Australia, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

and some

Pacific Islands Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...

. It is a tall, woody climber with

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and in ...

leaves, the leaflets oblong, elliptic or egg-shaped, and

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

s of purple, pea-like flowers.

Description

''Austrocallerya australis'' is a tall, woody climber with stems up to in diameter with rough, grey or cream-coloured bark. The leaves are pinnate with 5 to 19 oblong, elliptic or egg-shaped leaflets, long and wide. There is a silky-hairy, thread-like or triangular

stipel A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

long at the base of each leaflet, but that sometimes falls as the leaf matures. The petiole is long with egg-shaped or narrowly triangular stipules at the base, and the stalk of each leaflet is long. The flowers are arranged in panicles long, each flower on a

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

long with narrowly triangular, thread-like or egg-shaped

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s at the base, but that fall as the flowers open. The

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s are yellowish, long and wide. The standard petal is more or less round, long, wide and mauve, purple or whitish, the wings long and purple or maroon, and the

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

is long and purple or maroon. Flowering occurs in winter and spring and the fruit is an oblong, woody glabrous

pod Pod or POD may refer to: Biology * Pod (fruit), a type of fruit of a flowering plant * Husk or pod of a legume * Pod of whales or other marine mammals * "-pod", a suffix meaning "foot" used in taxonomy Electronics and computing * Proper ort ...

long.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1833 by

Stephan Endlicher Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804, Bratislava (Pozsony) – 28 March 1849, Vienna) was an Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna. Bio ...

who gave it the name ''Pterocarpus australis'' in his book ''Prodromus Florae Norfolkicae'' from specimens collected on

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together with ...

by Ferdinand Bauer. In 1994,

Anne M. Schot Anne M. Schot (born 1966) is a Netherlanders#Terminology in Dutch and other languages, Dutch botanist. Early life Anne M Schot was born on 20 September 1966 in Leidschendam, a town in South Holland province, Netherlands (Leidschendam has ...

moved the species to ''

Callerya ''Callerya'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae. Genetic analysis shows ''Callerya'' and ''Wisteria'' to be each other's closest relatives and quite distinct from other members of ...

'' as ''Callerya australis'' in the journal '' Blumea'' and in 2019,

James A. Compton James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

and

Brian David Schrire Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word meani ...

moved it to their new genus ''

Austrocallerya ''Austrocallerya'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the subfamily Faboideae in the family Fabaceae. They are robust, twining woody vines. Its native range is from New Guinea to eastern Australia and islands in the Southern Pacific. De ...

'' as ''Austrocallerya australis'', based on the plant's morphology, and nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequences. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''australis'') means "southern".

Distribution and habitat

This species grows in rainforest from sea level to an altitude of in

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

, in New South Wales as far south as

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Sea co ...

, and on Norfolk Island. According to

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants by ...

, it also occurs in New Guinea,

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

, and the

Cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (professional), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * ...

Solomon Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...

, Tuamotus and

Tubuai Islands The Austral Islands (french: Îles Australes, officially ''Archipel des Australes;'' ty, Tuha'a Pae) are the southernmost group of islands in French Polynesia, an overseas country of the French Republic in the South Pacific. Geographically, ...

Conservation status

''Austrocallerya australis'' is listed as "least concern" under the Queensland Government ''

Nature Conservation Act 1992 The ''Nature Conservation Act 1992'' is an act of the Parliament of Queensland, Australia, that, together with subordinate legislation, provides for the legislative protection of Queensland's threatened biota. As originally published, it prov ...

''.

References

{{taxonbar, from1=Q93952985, from2=Q15487886, from3=Q50844112, from4=Q39151956, from5=Q39125550, from6=Q17445957, from7=Q15527881, from8=Q65951451 Wisterieae Flora of the Cook Islands Flora of New Caledonia Flora of New Guinea Flora of New South Wales Flora of Norfolk Island Flora of Queensland Flora of the Solomon Islands (archipelago) Flora of the Tuamotus Flora of the Tubuai Islands Plants described in 1833