Daviesia major (Benth.) Crisp (1995: 1208)

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

86. Daviesia major (Benth.) Crisp (1995: 1208) , Wheeler et al. (2002: 747). Daviesia hakeoides Meisner (1844: 47) var. major Bentham (1864: 83) . Type: ‘Granite hills north from Cape Paisley, Maxwell.’ Holotype: MEL 78890

Bushy, intricate or diffuse and spreading, multi-stemmed shrubs, to 0.7 m high and 1 m broad, glabrous. Root anatomy unknown. Branchlets flexuose, terete, smooth when fresh, finely striate when dry. Phyllodes widely scattered, ± divaricate and recurving at tips, terete, acicular, pungent, inarticulate at base, continuous with and closely resembling the branchlet, 0–200 mm long, 0.8–1.5 mm diam., decreasing considerably in length towards branchlet apex. Unit inflorescences single in upper axils, racemose, 1–3-flowered; rachis and peduncle very short and obscured by bracts, except ca. 2 mm terminal portion subtending an aborting bud; peduncle ca. 1 mm long; rachis <2 mm long; barren basal bracts several, imbricate, to 3 mm long; subtending bracts reflexed, obtrullate, cupped, striate, 4–5 mm long. Pedicels 1–3 mm long. Calyx campanulate, 5–6 mm long including the ca. 1 mm receptacle, lead grey with a pale stripe along each lobe and a pale patch in each sinus; lobes subequal, acuminate; upper 2 lobes ca. 1.5 mm long; lower 3 lobes ca. 2 mm long. Corolla : standard depressed-ovate, emarginate, reflexed> 90°, truncate at base, ca. 9 × 11–12 mm including the 2 mm claw, orange with red infusion towards centre and an intensely yellow mark at centre; wings broadly spathulate, very rounded and incurved at apex, auriculate, ca. 8 × 5 mm including 1 mm claw, dark red or with orange tips; keel lunate, acute, auriculate, saccate, ca. 5 × 2 mm including 1 mm claw, dark red. Stamens strongly dimorphic: inner whorl of 5 with terete filaments and versatile anthers with confluent thecae; outer whorl of 5 with slightly shorter, compressed filaments and basifixed, 2-celled anthers; filaments free; vexillary filament dilated near apex. Pod obliquely shallowly obtriangular, acute, strongly compressed, 12–14 × 8–10 mm, viscid (fresh pods often have adhering sand grains),

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red-brown; upper suture sigmoid; lower suture acute and sharply curved. Seed oblong-ellipsoid, ca. 3.5 mm long, ca. 2.25 mm broad, ca. 1.5 mm thick, light red-brown with faint mottling; aril oblong with a thick lobe below the hilum, pale brown. ( Fig. 86 ).

Flowering period:— (July) August to October. Fruiting period: September and October. Distribution:— Scattered along the south coast of Western Australia from Busselton to Israelite Bay, but most collections are from east of Esperance. There appears to be a large disjunction between Hopetoun and Busselton.

A MONOGRAPH OF DAVIESIA

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Habitat:— All collections come from sandy sites, usually deep grey or white sand over granite, but near Busselton the sand overlies laterite, in heath with emergent eucalypts, Banksia speciosa and Xanthorrhoea Sol. ex Smith (1798: 219) .

Conservation status:— Not currently of concern, especially as the species appears to be well-represented in the Cape Arid and Cape Le Grand National Parks. However, the distantly disjunct population near Busselton merits special attention.

Additional specimens examined:— WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Darling: 3 km along Ruabon Road, Busselton, 33°40’S, 115°30’E, M . Carter 515, 26 October 1985 ( CANB, PERTH). Eyre: Lucky Bay , E of Esperance, 34°00’S, 122°14’E, E. M . Bennett 851, 10 September 1966 ( NSW, PERTH); Cape Arid National Park , 7 km SW of Israelite Hill, 33°39’S, 123°47’E, R . Borough 4, 2 September 1978 ( CBG, PERTH); Cape Arid National Park, near the foot of Mt Baring , 33°45’S, 123°16’E, R . Borough 7, 2 September 1978 ( CBG, MO, PERTH); 3 km W of Israelite Bay ruins, 33°37’S, 123°50’E, M . D. Crisp 4881, 7 January 1979 ( CBG); ca. 100 km NE of Ravensthorpe, 2.5 km S of Welcome Soak , 33°03’S, 120°50’E, M . D. Crisp 6026 et al., 21 September 1979 ( CBG, K, MEL, NSW, PERTH); 75 km NE of Ravensthorpe, 4 km W of Dunn Swamp , 33°10’S, 120°40’E, M . D. Crisp 6041, et al., 21 September 1979 ( CBG, PERTH); ca. 300 m up Thistle Cove trail from Lucky Bay end, 34°00’S, 122°13’E, I . Solomon 391, 2 August 1990 ( CANB, PERTH); Cape Le Grand , 34°02’S, 122°07’E, P. G . Wilson 5616, 8 October 1966 ( PERTH); Esperance , C. E . Woolcock D 72, 1 August 1981 ( CBG); Hopetoun , 33°57’S, 120°07’E, C. E . Woolcock D75, 1 August 1981 ( CBG) .

Affinity:— Daviesia major belongs to a natural group of species with moderately enlarged, shell-shaped, usually striate bracts which are imbricate and cover the rachis ( Crisp 1982a; 1984). Within this group, it appears related to D. hakeoides , D. debilior , D. pseudaphylla and D. sarissa . It differs from these in having reflexed subtending bracts, 4–5 mm long; calyx-lobes acuminate, each with a pale stripe; standard 11–12 mm broad; pod 12–14 mm long, viscid. By contrast, these species (except D. sarissa ) have ascending or spreading subtending bracts which are up to 3 mm long, a calyx with lobes which lack stripes and with the upper 2 more or less united into a lip, a standard <10 mm broad, and a pod which is usually smaller (except in D. pseudaphylla ) and never viscid.

The bracts and calyx of D. sarissa are similar to those of D. major , but D. sarissa may be distinguished by its smaller standard (5–6 mm broad), spreading (not reflexed) subtending bracts and smaller (7–8 mm long), bluntly beaked, non-viscid pod.

Figures

FIGURE 86. Daviesia major. A. Flowering branchlet. B. Inflorescence. C. Pod. A from R. Borough 4; B from Crisp 6026; C from Crisp 6041. Drawn by B-J. Osborne. Adapted from Crisp (1995) with permission from CSIRO Publishing.