''Hovea trisperma'', commonly known as ''common hovea'', it is a flowering plant in the family

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

. It is a small straggling shrub with purple-blue flowers 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

''Hovea trisperma'' is a perennial, short stemmed, sprawling, woody shrub to high and multi-stemmed from the base. The branches thickly or sparsely coved with flattened hairs, often crinkled or twisted. The leaves are variable, they may be elliptic, lance-shaped, oval or linear-oblong and may vary on the one plant, upper leaves long and wide. The leaves rounded or pointed at the apex, margins may be slightly or distinctly curved under, upper surface smooth or with soft hairs and the petiole long. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s are borne in leaf axils in a cluster of 1-6 purplish-blue flowers, either

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

or on a short peduncle. Each flower is 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 that are densely covered with flattened, spreading hairs. The calyx thickly covered with flattened, erect to slightly spreading hairs.The standard petal is long and wide with a white, centre flare. The

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 ...

are long and wide, and 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 wide. Flowering occurs from May to November and the fruit is an oval-shaped

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 ...

Taxonomy and naming

''Hovea trisperma'' was first formally described in 1837 by

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studi ...

and the description was published in ''Enumeratio plantarum quas in Novae Hollandiae ora austro-occidentali ad fluvium Cygnorum et in Sinu Regis Georgii collegit Carolus liber baro de Hügel''. 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 ...

(''trisperma'') means "three seed" referring to the fruit.

Distribuiton and habitat

Common hovea grows in sandy and clay soils in heath, woodlands and mallee from Perth, south to

Busselton Busselton is a city in the South West region of the state of Western Australia approximately south-west of Perth. Busselton has a long history as a popular holiday destination for Western Australians; however, the closure of the Busselton ...

, and to the south-west near Albany, and Esperance.

References

External links

Pictures of Hovea trisperma {{Taxonbar, from=Q3008123 Hovea, trisperma Near threatened flora of Australia Rosids of Western Australia