''Swainsona galegifolia'' commonly known as smooth Darling pea,
is a species of flowering plant in the family
and is
endemic to Australia. It is a small shrub with greyish-green leaves and flowers in white, red, pink, purple, yellow or orange.
Description
''Swainsona galegifolia'' is an upright, perennial subshrub to about high with smooth stems. The grey-green leaves are arranged opposite in pairs of 11-29 leaflets on a
petiole, each leaflet is narrowly egg-shaped, long, wide, smooth, apex rounded, notched or occasionally with a small point.The pea-like flowers are borne in
racemes of 15-20 white, pink, purple, yellow or orange flowers long. 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 ...
is smooth, shorter than the floral tube. The
standard petal is almost orb-shaped, clawed, up to long, wide,
keel long, apex rounded and slightly lipped. Flowering occurs in November and December, the fruit is an elliptic-shaped swollen pod, usually long, wide, smooth and the
stipe often more than long.
Taxonomy and naming
The species was first formally described in 1803 by
Henry Cranke Andrews as ''Vicia galegifolia''.
In 1812
Robert Brown changed the name to ''Swainsona galegifolia'' and the change was published 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 ...
''.
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 ...
(''galegifolia'') refers to the similarity to the northern hemisphere plant ''
galega
''Galega'', goat's rue, is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae, native to central and southern Europe, western Asia and tropical east Africa. They are tall, bushy, herbaceous perennials with erect racemes of pea-like flower ...
''.
Distribution and habitat
Smooth Darling pea is a widespread species growing in several different habitats in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7653034
galegifolia
Fabales of Australia
Flora of New South Wales
Flora of Queensland
Flora of Victoria (Australia)
Taxa named by Henry Cranke Andrews