''Swainsona monticola'', commonly known as Notched Swainson-pea, is a small
perennial plant in the pea family
that is native to
New South Wales,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. The habitat is in elevated areas on woodland or rocky slopes. The
lectotype was collected by
Allan Cunningham in the
Blue Mountains.
A low growing plant with compound leaves 5 to 10 cm long, with 11 to 25 leaflets. Purple flowers form from spring to autumn on
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 of three to fifteen flowers. The seed pod is hairless, oblong or elliptical in shape 8 to 15 mm long. 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 ...
(''monticola'') is derived from the
Latin ''mons'', meaning "mountain" and ''cola'', meaning "dweller", referring to the montane habitat.
References
monticola
Fabales of Australia
Flora of New South Wales
Plants described in 1864
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