''Daviesia sarissa'' is a species of flowering plant in the family
and is
endemic to inland areas of south-western Western Australia. It is a spreading or sprawling,
glaucous
''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), g ...
shrub with scattered, long, rigid, cylindrical, sharply-pointed
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 orange-yellow and red flowers.
Description
''Daviesia sarissa'' is a spreading or sprawling,
glabrous, glaucous shrub that typically grows up to high and wide. Its phyllodes are scattered, rigid, cylindrical, long, wide and fiercely pointed. The flowers are arranged in a group of three to six in leaf axils on a
peduncle Peduncle may refer to:
*Peduncle (botany), a stalk supporting an inflorescence, which is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed
*Peduncle (anatomy), a stem, through which a mass of tissue is attached to a body
**Peduncle (art ...
about 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
sepals are long and joined at the base, the two upper lobes joined for most of their length, the lower three with lobes about long. The
standard petal is broadly elliptic, long, wide, and orange-yellow with a dark red base. The
wings are long and red, the
keel long and red. Flowering occurs from July to September and the fruit is a 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
''Daviesia sarissa'' was first formally described in 1995 by
Michael Crisp in ''
Australian Systematic Botany'' from specimens he collected near Lake Chidnup, north-west of
Ravensthorpe Ravensthorpe may refer to any of the following places.
England
*Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury in West Yorkshire
**Ravensthorpe railway station, Dewsbury
*Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire
*Ravensthorpe, Peterborough in Cambridgeshire
*Ravensthorpe, an histor ...
in 1975.
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 ...
(''sarissa'') is a word meaning a long
Macedonian lance, referring to the leaves.
In the same paper, Crisp described two subspecies of ''D. sarissa'' and the names are accepted by the
Australian Plant Census:
* ''Daviesia sarissa'' subsp. ''redacta''
Crisp;
* ''Daviesia sarissa''
Crisp subsp. ''sarissa''
Crisp differs from subsp. ''redacta'' in having
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 that do not overlap or hide the inflorescence, but are long, the flowers usually smaller.
Distribution and habitat
This daviesia grows in heath. Subspecies ''redacta'' occurs between
Southern Cross and
Coolgardie in the
Coolgardie biogeographic region, and subp. ''sarissa'' between
Pingaring
Pingaring is a small town in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia.
The name of the town is the Indigenous Australian name of a nearby spring that was first recorded by surveyors in 1926.
The town originated as a railway siding on the Hy ...
,
Newdegate and near
Lake King
Lake King is a town in the eastern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, from Perth along State Route 40 between Kelmscott and Ravensthorpe. As of 2016, the town had a population of 95. The 2011 census recorded both the population of the tow ...
in the
Esperance Plains and
Mallee bioregions of south-western Western Australia.
Conservation status
''Daviesia sarissa'' is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia
Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions
The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) is the Western Australian government
The Government of Western Australia, formally referred to as His Majesty's Government of Western Australia, is the Australian state de ...
,
but subspecies ''redacta'' is classified as "
Priority Two",
meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.
References
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q51043895, from2=Q100451115, from3=Q51055085
sarissa
Taxa named by Michael Crisp
Plants described in 1995
Flora of Western Australia