Swainsona oroboides Benth.
Variable Swainsona

Scientific Description

Prostrate,spreading or scrambling, herb. Stems terete, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, compound, alternate, not continuous with stem, 20-90 mm long, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent, leaflets 5-9, pinnately arranged, terminal leaflet present, stalked; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves, 4-6 mm long, without glands, ribless. Pedicel present, 2 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent, 0.7-1 mm long, hairy, not striate. Calyx 4-5.2 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 9-11.5 mm long, uniformly coloured, purple; claws present; standard 8-9 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 7-8 mm long, auriculate, keel 9-10.5 mm long, auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.6-1.2 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments united in an open sheath with one free stamen, 5-7.5 mm long. Ovary stipitate, hairy or glandular; style 10.5-12 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, bearded (with a tuft of hairs at apex), flattened at apex. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), stipitate, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section. Flowers in June, July, August and September. Occurs in the Eremaean Botanical Province, in the Pilbara, Gascoyne, Gibson Desert, Central Ranges, Yalgoo, Murchison, Great Victorian Desert and Coolgardie IBRA regions.