Plants of
South Australia
Daviesia leptophylla
Fabaceae
Narrow-leaf Bitter-pea
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Regional Species Conservation Assessments per IBRA subregion.
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Near threatened
Rare
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Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
Marla
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Oodnadatta
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Wudinna
Keith
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 5

Prior names

Daviesia virgata

Daviesia corymbosa

Daviesia mimosoides

Etymology

Daviesia named after the Rev. Hugh Davies (1739-1821), a Welsh botanist and an Anglican clergyman. Leptophylla from the Greek 'leptos' meaning narrow and 'phyllon' meaning a leaf, referring to the species' long narrow leaves.

Distribution and status

Found along a line running from the Flinders Ranges to Kangaroo island, with a few records from the lower South-east, growing in dry open sites on skeletal soils. Also found in New South Wales and Victoria. Native. Common in South Australia. Common in the other States.
Herbarium regions: Flinders Ranges, Eyre Peninsula, Northern Lofty, Murray, Southern Lofty, Kangaroo Island, South Eastern, Green Adelaide
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Eyre Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, South Australian Arid Lands, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Multi-stemmed shrub to 2 m tall with ascending, glabrous and angular branches. Leaves linear-elliptic to linear-obovate, to 90 mm long and to 10 mm wide;, dull yellow-green. Inflorescences in axillary clusters with orange-yellow pea-flowers. Flowering between September and November. Fruits are brown asymmetrically triangular pod to 2.5 mm long and 1.7 wide, beaked with the persistent style. Seeds are orange-brown with black mottled reniform seed to 6 mm long and 4 mm wide, with a cream aril. Seed embryo type is bent.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between November and January. Collect maturing pods that are turning brown with hard seeds inside. Leave the pods in a paper bag to dry for at least a week. Rub the pods gently with a rubber bung to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate the seeds from unwanted material. Store the dried fruit heads with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place. Seed viability is usually high.This species has physical dormancy that needs to be overcome for the seed to germinate (e.g. nicking or softening the seed coat)

Seeds stored:
  Hide
LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA 
MSB
1,500 (13.2 g)
1,500 (13.2 g)
4013-Dec-2004DJD7931-Mar-200695%-18°C
Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.
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.