Botanical art
Common names
Feather Bush-pea
Etymology
Pultenaea named after Richard Pulteney (1730-1801), an English physician, botanist and biographer of Carl Linnaeus. Penna from Latin meaning feather; referring to the long whitish hairs on the apical leaves and bracts.
Distribution and status
Found on Kangaroo Island and the South-east in South Australia, growing in heath or mallee heath and less common, in swamps or woodlands, on sand to sandy clay or loam over limestone. Also found in Victoria. Native. Rare in South Australia. Rare in Victoria.
Herbarium regions: Kangaroo Island, South Eastern
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)
Plant description
Erect to prostrate shrub to 1 m high with branchlets sparsely to moderately hairy. Leaves alternate to 10 mm long and 0.8 mm wide,linear, broadly u-shaped, straight, smooth to tuberculate, glabrous to sparsely hairy, apex
acute, straight, pungent. Inflorescence a tight, terminal cluster of 4–5 yellow to orange with red striation pea-flowers. Flowering between November to December. Fruits are hairy brown ovoid pod, enclosed by the calyx. Seeds are dark brown with black mottled reniform seed to 2.5 mm long and 1.5 mm wide, with a cream aril. Seed embryo type is bent.
Seed collection and propagation
Collect seeds between November and January. Collect maturing pods, those that are brown or turning brown and contain hard dark 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 75%. 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 MSB | 1,600 (3.25 g) 1,600 (3.25 g) | 50+ | 16-Dec-2015 | DJD3265 Kangaroo Island | 2-May-2017 | 75% | -18°C |
Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.
Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.
% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.