''Podolobium'', commonly known as shaggy peas, is a genus of six species of flowering plants in the family

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

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 eastern Australia. The genus was formally described by botanist Robert Brown in ''

Hortus Kewensis ''Hortus Kewensis, or a Catalogue of the Plants Cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew'' by William Aiton was a 1789 catalogue of all the plant species then in cultivation at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is ...

'' in 1811.

Description

Podolobiums vary in size and

habit A habit (or wont as a humorous and formal term) is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously.

from upright to

prostrate Prostrate may refer to:- *Prostration, a position of submission in religion etc. *Prone position, a face-down orientation of the body *Prostrate shrub A prostrate shrub is a woody plant, most of the branches of which lie upon or just above the ...

forms and stems usually have soft, smooth hairs. The leaves are arranged alternately, opposite or whorled, margins smooth or lobed. The leaf upper surface is covered with a network of veins, occasionally warty, edges rolled under or flat,

stipules In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). Stipules are considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many speci ...

stiff, rolled under or spreading. 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 ...

are at the end of branches or in

racemes 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 ...

in leaf axils, clusters or

corymbs Corymb is a botanical term for an inflorescence with the flowers growing in such a fashion that the outermost are borne on longer pedicels than the inner, bringing all flowers up to a common level. A corymb has a flattish top with a superficial re ...

, with 3-lobed

bracts 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 ...

and usually falling off as the flower matures. The

calyx Calyx or calyce (plural "calyces"), from the Latin ''calix'' which itself comes from the Ancient Greek ''κάλυξ'' (''kálux'') meaning "husk" or "pod", may refer to: Biology * Calyx (anatomy), collective name for several cup-like structures ...

has 5 more or less equal teeth, upper two wider and joined higher up. The flower petals are clawed, standard petal at the back of the flower is more or less rounded, notched at the apex, longer than the other petals. The stamens are free, the

anthers The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

even and the ovary stalked. The seed pods are oblong to egg-shaped.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Podolobium'' was first formally described in 1811 by Robert Brown and the description was published in ''

''.

Distribution

All podolobium species are

to Australia, found in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

Species list

The following species are accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Syst ...

as at October 2020: * '' Podolobium aciculiferum''

F.Muell. Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Victo ...

— needle shaggy-pea (N.S.W., Qld.) * '' Podolobium aestivum''

Crisp CRISP may refer to: * Center for Research in Security and Privacy, largest research center for IT security in Europe * C-language Reduced Instruction Set Processor, an AT&T microprocessor design * Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Pat ...

& P.H.Weston (N.S.W.) * '' Podolobium alpestre'' (F.Muell.) Crisp & P.H.Weston — alpine shaggy-pea (A.C.T., Vic., N.S.W.) * '' Podolobium ilicifolium'' (Andrews) Crisp & P.H.Weston — prickly shaggy pea (Qld., Vic., N.S.W) * '' Podolobium procumbens'' (F.Muell.) Crisp & P.H.Weston — trailing shaggy-pea (Vic., N.S.W) * '' Podolobium scandens'' DC. — netted shaggy-pea (Qld., N.S.W)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5234500 Fabales of Australia Fabaceae genera