''Gastrolobium calycinum'' commonly known as York Road poison,
is a flowering plant in the family
. It has variable leaves and yellow pea flowers with a pink or red centre 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 Western Australia.
Description
''Gastrolobium calycinum'' is an upright, bushy shrub to high, leaves broadly oval to orb-shaped, tapering to a sharp point, up to long, stiff, veined, sometimes with a whitish covering and arranged opposite or in a grouping of three. The yellow pea flowers are in short
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,
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 brown and stiff, concave and rounded. The
standard petal is not as long as the
calyx,
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 ...
as long as 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 ...
. Flowering occurs from August to November.
Naming
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 ...
(''calycinum'') is in reference to a notable calyx.
Distribution and habitat
York Road poison grows in a variety of situations including clay, loam or sandy soils on hills or flats in Western Australia.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15479460
calycinum
Rosids of Western Australia
Endemic flora of Western Australia
Plants described in 1839
Taxa named by George Bentham