''Chorizema varium'', commonly known as bush flame pea,
is a species of
flowering plant in the family
, and is
endemic to the
south-west of Western Australia. It is a spreading shrub with prickly, heart-shaped leaves and orange, yellow and pinkish-red flowers.
Description
''Chorizema varium'' is a prostrate, spreading or scrambling shrub that typically grows to a height of about and has softly-hairy branches. Its leaves are heart-shaped, long, wide and wavy with more or less prickly teeth on the edges. The flowers are arranged in
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, each flower on a
pedicel long. The
sepals are hairy and long. The flowers are orange, yellow and pinkish-red, the
standard petal long, the
wings long, and the
keel long. Flowering mainly occurs from September to October and the fruit is a
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
''Chorizema varium'' was first formally described in 1839 by
Joseph Paxton
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
in his "Magazine of Botany".
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 ...
(''varium'') means "variable", referring to the leaves.
Distribution and habitat
This species of pea grows on coastal limestone hills and outcrops in the
Swan Coastal Plain
The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...
bioregion of south-western Western Australia.
Conservation status
''Chorizema varium'' is listed as "
Threatened" by the Western Australian Government
Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions,
meaning that it is in danger of extinction.
References
External links
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15528991
varium
Fabales of Australia
Plants described in 1839
Taxa named by Joseph Paxton