Daviesia gracilis Crisp (1984: 160)

Crisp, Michael D., Cayzer, Lindy, Chandler, Gregory T. & Cook, Lyn G., 2017, A monograph of Daviesia (Mirbelieae, Faboideae, Fabaceae), Phytotaxa 300 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

88. Daviesia gracilis Crisp (1984: 160) , Crisp (1995: 1196). Replaced synonym: Daviesia juncea Smith (1808b: 260) , nom. illeg., non (H.A. Schrader & J.C. Wendland 1795: 9) Persoon (1805: 454). Type: ‘Brought by Mr. Menzies from King George’s Sound.’ Holotype: King George Sound, west coast of New Holland, lat. 35, 1791, A. Menzies (LINN); isotype: BM

Spreading, diffuse shrubs, to 0.5 m high, glabrous. Root anatomy anomalous (cord type) but developing only after a long period (years) of unistelar secondary thickening. Branchlets weakly ascending, terete, smooth when fresh, striate when dry. Phyllodes all reduced to scales. Unit inflorescences 1 per axil, modified racemes with the lower flowers clustered due to condensation of the rachis, 3–5-flowered; peduncle 1–1.5 mm long; rachis 0.5–3 mm long; barren basal bracts forming an involucre, ascending, oblong, ca. 1–2 mm long; subtending bracts strongly recurved, shell-shaped, striate, with the claw fused to the pedicel for up to half the length of the pedicel, ca. 4 mm long. Pedicel 3–6 mm long. Calyx 3–3.5 mm long including the ca. 0.75 mm receptacle; 5 nerves usually visible; lower two-thirds pale, upper third including lobes and the 5 major nerves greenish yellow and delineated by a jagged grey line; lobes subequal, triangular, ca. 0.75 mm long; upper 2 lobes united slightly higher than the lower 3; the middle lower lobe juts out beyond the outer two. Corolla : standard transversely broadly elliptic, emarginate, 8–9 × 8–8.5 mm including the 1–1.5 mm claw, with 2 small calli at the base of the lamina, orange-yellow with a light maroon ring around the lamina, fading to maroon towards the base, with a faint red ring around the yellow centre, back of standard deep maroon; wings obliquely elliptic with a rounded and incurved apex that encloses the keel, auriculate, ca. 7–7.5 × 2.5 mm including the 2 mm claw, maroon; keel half transversely elliptic, acute, scarcely auriculate, saccate, ca. 3.5–4.5 × 2 mm including the 1.5 mm claw, maroon. Stamens dimorphic but only in the anthers; inner whorl of 5 with globose anthers with confluent thecae; outer whorl of 5 with narrowly ovoid 2- celled anthers; all filaments uniform, free, terete; all anthers basifixed. Pod obliquely shallowly obtriangular, acuminate, compressed, 16–19 × 8–9 mm; upper suture sigmoid; lower suture acute. Seed not seen. ( Fig. 88 ).

Flowering period:— July to October. Fruiting period: Beginning in October.

Distribution:— Western Australia, from Kojonup south to King George Sound and east to Bremer Bay. Records from the wheatbelt farther north are doubtful, and could be misdeterminations of D. hakeoides subsp. subnuda .

Habitat:— Grows on skeletal stony clay (Ellen Peak) to gravelly sandy or sandy soils, from exposed peaks to sandplains in heath (often closed) with emergent Eucalyptus spp. , or in open eucalypt woodland.

Selected specimens (52 examined):— WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Darling: Ca. 60 km NE of Albany , 2.5 km NE of Stirling South, 34°34’E, 118°14’E, M . D. Crisp 6133, et al., 25 September 1979 ( CBG); W of Mt Barker , ca. 34°39’S, 117°39’E, A . M . Ashby 3644, 30 September 1970 ( AD, B). Roe: Jerramungup , 33°57’S, 118°54’E, C . E . Woolcock D 80, 31 July 1981 ( CBG). Eyre: Stirling Range, 1 km N of Ellen Peak, 34°21’S, 118°20’E, M . D. Crisp 5296, 19 January 1979 ( CBG); Stirling Range, 3.5 km SE of Bluff Knoll, 34°24’S, 118°16’E, M . D. Crisp 6122 et al, 25 September 1979 ( CBG, L, PERTH); Chester Pass Road, at Napier River Crossing, 34°49’S, 117°58’E, J . Taylor 1810 & P . Ollerenshaw, 14 September 1983 ( CBG, MEL, PERTH); Kalgan River, ca. 34°31’S, 117°43’E, Oldfield 498 ( MEL); Porongorup Range , 34°42’S, 117°53’E, A . B . Cashmore 72, 15 September 1939 ( PERTH); 11 km N of Boxwood Hill along Highway 1 towards Jerramungup , 34°17’S, 118°49’E, M . D. Crisp 6076 et al., 22 September 1979 ( AD, CBG, K, MEL, PERTH) .

A MONOGRAPH OF DAVIESIA

Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press • 199 200 • Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press

CRISP ET AL.

Affinity:— Daviesia gracilis belongs to a group of species closely related to D. hakeoides with moderately enlarged, shell-shaped, usually striate bracts which are imbricate and cover the rachis ( Crisp 1982a; 1984), and within this group most closely resembles D. triflora and D. debilior subsp. sinuans in being totally leafless. Daviesia debilior differs in having weak, more or less sinuous branchlets and smaller flowers (e.g. calyx 1.5–2 mm long, standard 6–6.5 mm broad) and the calyx is lead grey to the tips of the lobes. Daviesia triflora differs in having strictly 3-flowered inflorescences, and the calyx is lead grey and has a truncate upper lip. Daviesia gracilis has also been confused with D. hakeoides subsp. subnuda but the latter always has at least a few small (2–3 mm long), pungent phyllodes, which are readily felt by running a finger down the branchlets.

Figures

FIGURE 88. Daviesia gracilis. A. Flowering branchlet. B. Inflorescence; note that calyces have a faint grey jagged line demarcating pale yellow-green tips above and a pale tube below. C. Pod. A from Crisp 6122; B from Crisp 6076; C from Crisp 5286. Drawn by A.L. Prowse.