''Lechenaultia divaricata'', commonly known as tangled leschenaultia, wirenetting bush or wirebush, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Goodeniaceae Goodeniaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Asterales. It contains about 404 species in twelve genera. The family is distributed mostly in Australia, except for the genus '' Scaevola'', which is pantropical. Its species are found ac ...

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 else ...

to arid and semi-arid areas of central Australia.

Description

''Lechenaultia divaricata'' is an erect subshrub that typically grows to a height of up to and has many spreading branches and

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

foliage. The leaves are reduced to scattered, membrane-like, triangular scales long. The flowers are arranged singly on the ends of branchlets, 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 coine ...

s long. The petals are creamy-white to yellow, long, the wings on the lower petal lobes triangular, wide and fringed, on the upper lobes up to wide. Flowering occurs sporadically throughout the year and the fruit is a cylindrical capsule long.

Taxonomy

''Lechenaultia divaricata'' was first formally described in 1862 by Ferdinand von Mueller in '' Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae'' from specimens collected near Coopers Creek. The specific epithet (''divaricata'') means "widely-spreading".

Distribution and habitat

Tangled leschenaultia grows in sand, often on sand dunes in mulga scrub and woodland in arid and semi-arid areas of inland South Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17480187 divaricata Plants described in 1862 Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller Flora of South Australia Flora of the Northern Territory Flora of Queensland Flora of New South Wales