Botanical art
Prior names
Pultenaea pedunculata var. latifolia
Common names
Matted Bush-pea
Etymology
Pultenaea named after Richard Pulteney (1730-1801), an English physician, botanist and biographer of Carl Linnaeus. Pedunculata from the Latin 'pedunculus' meaning a little foot; referring to the long flower stalk (peduncle).
Distribution and status
Found in the southern part of South Australia, on the southern Eyre Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, Mount Lofty Ranges and the upper South-east, growing in dry sclerophyll woodland on a variety of soils. Also found in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Native. Uncommon in South Australia. Rare in New South Wales. Common in the other states.
Herbarium regions: Eyre Peninsula, Northern Lofty, Murray, Southern Lofty, Kangaroo Island, South Eastern, Green Adelaide
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)
Plant description
Prostrate, mat-forming shrub to 20 cm high with stems up to several meters long, covered with whitish hairs. Leaves alternate, narrow-elliptic, to 11 mm long and 2 mm wide, sparsely hairy with a recurved point at the tip. Flowers solitary orange-yellow with reddish markings pea-flower on a long stalk to 20 mm long. Flowering between August and December. Fruits are hairy brown ovoid pod to 5 mm long, containing two seeds. Seeds are shiny, black, semi-flat reniform seed to 2.5 mm long and 1.8 mm wide, with a creamy aril. Seed embryo type is bent.
Seed collection and propagation
Collect seeds between October and January. Collect maturing pods, those that are brown or turning brown and contain hard black seeds inside. Place the pods in a paper bag and leave to dry for one to two weeks. Then rub the pods with a rubber bung to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate the unwanted material. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place. From one collection, the seed viability was average, at 80%. This species has physical dormancy that needs to be overcome for the seed to germinate. The seed coat needs to be ruptured so that water can enter the seed before germination can occur. Methods to rupture the seed coat include scarification with sand paper or nicking the seed coat with a sharp blade or hot water treatment by immersion in boiling water.
Location | No. of seeds (weight grams) | Number of plants | Date collected | Collection number Collection location | Date stored | % Viability | Storage temperature |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BGA | 670 (1.6 g) | 40+ | 1-Dec-2015 | JRG257 Southern Lofty | 2-May-2017 | 55% | -18°C |