''Chorizema cytisoides'' 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
southwest of Western Australia. It is an erect to low-lying or sprawling shrub with linear leaves and reddish-orange, yellow and purple flowers.
Description
''Chorizema cytisoides'' is an erect to low-lying or sprawling shrub that typically grows to a height of . Its leaves are linear, long with the edges rolled under and silky-hairy on the lower surface. The flowers are arranged in spike-like
raceme
A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...
s up to long on the ends of branches. There are silky-hairy, lance-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 and
bracteoles at the base of the flowers. The flowers are reddish-orange, yellow and purple, 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 about long and silky-hairy, the upper two lobes joined for about half their length. The
standard petal is about long, the
wings and
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 ...
slightly shorter and the keel has an erect point on the end. Flowering occurs from July to December.
Taxonomy
''Chorizema cytisoides'' was first formally described in 1853 by
Nikolai Turczaninow in the ''Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou''.
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 ...
(''cytisoides'') means "''
Cytisus''-like".
Distribution and habitat
This species of pea grows on plains, slopes and gravelly ridges in the
Avon Wheatbelt,
Esperance Plains and
Jarrah Forest bioregions of south-western Western Australia.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15528578
cytisoides
Fabales of Australia
Flora of Western Australia
Taxa named by Nikolai Turczaninow
Plants described in 1853