''Daviesia pectinata'', commonly known as thorny bitter-pea,
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 south-eastern continental Australia. It is a dense, rigid shrub with erect, flattened branchlets, crowded, flattened, triangular
phyllode
Phyllodes are modified petioles or leaf stems, which are leaf-like in appearance and function. In some plants, these become flattened and widened, while the leaf itself becomes reduced or vanishes altogether. Thus the phyllode comes to serve the ...
s, and yellow to orange and reddish flowers.
Description
''Daviesia pectinata'' is a dense, rigid shrub that typically grows to a height of up to and has branchlets that are triangular in cross-section. Its phyllodes are vertically flattened, triangular and often crowded, long, high and sharply pointed. The flowers are arranged in leaf axils in one or two
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 of three to ten flowers, the racemes on a
peduncle long, the
rachis 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. 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 long and joined to form a bell-shaped base, the upper two lobes joined for most of their length and the lower three long. The
standard petal is elliptic with a notched centre, long and wide, yellow grading to an orange to dark reddish base and yellow centre. The
wings are about long and orange with a reddish centre, 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 ...
long and orange-brown. Flowering occurs in September and October and the fruit is a flattened, triangular
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 and naming
''Daviesia pectinata'' was first formally described in 1838 by
John Lindley
John Lindley FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist.
Early years
Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley w ...
in
Thomas Mitchell's journal, ''Three Expeditions into the interior of Eastern Australia''.
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 ...
(''pectinata'') means "in the form of a comb".
Distribution and habitat
Thorny bitter-pea grows in open forest, woodland or
mallee from the
Eyre and
Fleurieu Peninsulas to
Goolwa in South Australia and in the
Little Desert
Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt
* ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film
*The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...
and
Horsham
Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...
areas of western Victoria.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15532745
pectinata
Flora of South Australia
Flora of Victoria (state)
Plants described in 1838
Taxa named by John Lindley