Plants of
South Australia
Pultenaea villifera var. glabrescens
Fabaceae
Splendid Bush-pea
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock painting: 1

Etymology

Pultenaea named after Richard Pulteney (1730-1801), an English physician, botanist and biographer of Carl Linnaeus. Villifera from the Latin 'ville' meaning long weak hairs and 'fera' meaning bearing; referring to the presence of long thin hairs on the leaves and bracteoles. Glabrescens from the Latin 'glabresco' meaning becoming glabrous; referring to this variety having glabrous or with a few hairs only on the stem and leaf margins compared to the other variety P. villifera var. villifera.

Distribution and status

Endemic to South Australia and found only along the north coast on Kangaroo Island, growing in dry sclerophyll forests to open mallee woodlands often dominated by Allocasuarina verticillata or Eucalyptus baxteri, E. cladocalyx, E. leucoxylon, heaths, grasslands and coastal cliffs on sandy to gravelly clay over sandstone, basalt, limestone or rhyolite. Native. Rare in South Australia.
Herbarium region: Kangaroo Island
NRM region: Kangaroo Island
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Erect to prostrate shrub to 2 m high with branchlets glabrous to sparsely hairy. Leaves alternate, to 26 mm long and 9 mm wide, triangular to linear, ovate to elliptic, glabrous to sparsely hairy, apex acute to acuminate, pungent. Inforescences axillary with single yellow to orange with red striation at front pea-flowers. Flowering between October and December. Fruits are hairy brown ovoid pod to 7.5 mm long. Seeds are brown with black mottled reniform seed to 2.5 mm long and 2.2 mm wide, with a cream aril. Seed embryo type is bent.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between December and February.

Collect maturing pods, those that are brown or turning brown and contain dark hard seeds inside.

In 2016 a second provenance collection for this rare endemic pea was achieved from De Mole River on Kangaroo island with the support of the Australian Seed Bank Partnership. 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. 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.

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA 
MSB
1,600 (7.4 g)
1,600 (7.4 g)
6014-Dec-2004MKJ51
Kangaroo Island
31-Mar-2006N/C-18°C
BGA2,400 (9.5 g)1019-Jan-2017DJD3605
Kangaroo Island
1-Nov-2017100%-18°C
BGA5,250 (23.400 g)301-Dec-2021BKB26
Kangaroo Island
7-Jul-202296%-18°C
BGA572 (2.568 g)50+1-Jan-2022M.J.Haby (Range Road)
Kangaroo Island
7-Jul-202292%-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.
Germination table:
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