Daviesia oppositifolia Endlicher (1838: 11)

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

22. Daviesia oppositifolia Endlicher (1838: 11) , Bentham (1864: 73). Type: ‘Habitat in Novae Hollandiae austro-occidentalis colonia King-Georges Sound (Huegel).’ No specimen was located—Endlicher types were in W but many were destroyed in 1945. Neotype (Crisp 1995: 1217): Western Australia, 60 km NE of Albany on road to Jerramungup, 34°40’S, 118°16’E, D.J.E. Whibley 5216, 10 November 1974 (AD); isoneotype: PERTH

Erect shrubs to 2 m high, glabrous. Root anatomy unknown. Branchlets ascending, terete to triquetrous, lightly ribbed. Phyllodes opposite or ternate or scattered, ascending, obovate to narrowly so, apically acute to rounded, contracted to a petiole-like inarticulate base, 37–122 × 11–37 mm; venation prominently reticulate. Unit inflorescences 1 or 2 per axil, condensed-racemose, 5–10-flowered, subtended by a whorl of 3 large convex herbaceous involucral bracts that are 10–13 mm broad, enlarging to 15–20 mm broad, enclosing the pods and becoming coriaceous, initially green, becoming deep copper-maroon at anthesis and bleaching to a light copper colour in fruit; peduncle 28–43 mm long; rachis 2–2.5 mm long; subtending bracts ascending, triangular, ca. 1.5 mm long; barren bracts scattered along the peduncle, ascending, triangular, ca. 1.5 mm long. Pedicels 3.5–6 mm long. Calyx 4–5 mm long including the ca. 1.5 mm receptacle; upper 2 lobes obliquely triangular, ca. 1 mm long; lower 3 lobes triangular, ca. 0.5 mm long. Corolla : standard transversely elliptic, emarginate, ca. 6 × 5.5–6 mm including the 2 mm claw, yellow with dark maroon markings around a central yellow blotch; wings obovate, apex rounded, auriculate, ca. 5–5.5 × 2 mm including the 2–2.5 mm claw, maroon with yellow tips; keel half circular, acute, saccate, ca. 4.5–5.5 × 1.5 mm including the 2–2.5 mm claw, maroon. Stamens strongly dimorphic: inner whorl of 5 with longer, slender filaments and shorter, round, subversatile anthers with confluent thecae; outer whorl of 5 with shorter, broader, compressed filaments and longer, oblong, basifixed, 2-celled anthers; filaments cohering. Pod obliquely shallowly to very broadly obtriangular, acute, compressed, 9–11 × 6–10 mm; upper suture sigmoid; lower suture acute. Seed ellipsoid, ca. 4 mm long, 3 mm broad, 2.5 mm thick, light greenish-brown with light mottling or brown with no mottling; aril ca. 2.5 mm long. ( Fig. 23 ).

Flowering period:— March to November. Fruiting period: October to January.

Distribution:— Western Australia, southern districts, mainly Stirling Range; also near Denmark and Cheyne Beach.

Habitat:— Grows in skeletal sandy loam in open forest dominated by Eucalyptus spp.

Selected specimens (39 examined):— WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Eyre: New transverse road, Stirling Range National Park , F. A . Spratt 33, March 1966 ( PERTH); Warrenup foothills, F. A . Spratt 3, 7 January 1964 ( PERTH); Warrungup to Ellen Peak , A . Morrison s.n., 16 October 1902 ( PERTH 5189543 ); 58 km from Albany towards Cape Riche, J. W . Wrigley WA/68 4939, 25 October 1968 ( CBG, PERTH); Stirling Range, 2.7 km N of Ellen Peak , M . D. Crisp 5282, 19 January 1979 ( CBG, PERTH); ca. 8 km E of Cheyne Beach turnoff, 34°45’S, 118°20’E, H . Demarz D6689, 24 November 1977 ( PERTH) .

Affinity:— Similar to D. alternifolia and D. ovata . Daviesia alternifolia has scattered phyllodes that are generally smaller (25–50[–64] × 4–13 mm) than in D. oppositifolia , and has visible stipules; also, the mature involucral bracts of D. alternifolia are scarious, whereas those of D. oppositifolia are coriaceous. The inflorescence of D. alternifolia is umbellate, with a smaller number of flowers (two or three) per inflorescence, and the peduncle, pedicel and calyx are hispidulous. Daviesia ovata has phyllodes that do not taper but are abruptly contracted to a petiole-like base, and are much broader (14–37 mm broad). Also, D. ovata has two (not three) flat herbaceous bracts that are generally broader (18–35 mm broad) and paper-thin, unlike the thicker, coriaceous bracts of D. oppositifolia .

66 • Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press

CRISP ET AL.

A MONOGRAPH OF DAVIESIA

Figures

FIGURE 23. Daviesia oppositifolia. A. Flowering branchlet. B. Infructescence with involucral bracts opened to show pods. C. Pod. A from Wrigley WA/68 4939; B, C from Crisp 5282. Drawn by B-J. Osborne.