''Bossiaea vombata'', commonly known as wombat bossiaea,
is a species of flowering plant in the family
and is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to the
Wombat State Forest
The Wombat State Forest (locally: Bullarook) is located west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, between Woodend and Daylesford, at the Great Dividing Range. The forest is approximately in size and sits upon Ordovician or Cenozoic sediments. ...
in Victoria, Australia. It is an erect shrub with flattened
cladodes and yellow, pea-like flowers.
Description
''Bossiaea vombata'' is a more or less
glabrous
Glabrousness (from the Latin ''glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...
,
rhizome
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...
-forming shrub that typically grows to a height of up to . The branches are flattened and winged, ending in greyish-green cladodes wide. The leaves are reduced to scales long and up to wide. The flowers are long and arranged singly 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 broadly 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 up to long and egg-shaped, brown
bracteole
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 long but that fall off as the flower opens. The five
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 glabrous and joined at the base, forming a tube long, the two upper lobes long and the lower lobes slightly shorter. The
standard Standard may refer to:
Symbols
* Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs
* Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification
Norms, conventions or requirements
* Standard (metrology), an object th ...
petal is uniformly yellow, long and wide, the
wings
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expresse ...
yellow and long, 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 ...
yellowish-white and long. Flowering occurs in October and fruit is rarely produced.
Taxonomy
''Bossiaea vombata'' was first formally described in 2008 by
James Henderson Ross
James Henderson Ross (born 1941) is an Australian botanist.
Authority abbreviation
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, James Henderson
Living people
1941 births
20th-century Australian botanists ...
in the journal ''
Muelleria'' from specimens he collected in the Wombat State Forest in 1995.
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 ...
(''vombata'') refers to the name of the state forest where this species is endemic.
Distribution and habitat
Wombat bossiaea is only known from the Wombat State Forest near
Daylesford where it grows in open forest.
Conservation status
This bossiaea is classified as "endangered" under the Victorian Government ''
Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988
The ''Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988'', also known as the ''FFG Act'', is an act of the Victorian Government designed to protect species, genetic material and habitats, to prevent extinction and allow maximum genetic diversity within the Au ...
''.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q280181
Bossiaea
Flora of Victoria (state)
Plants described in 2008