Plants of
South Australia
Swainsona fuscoviridis
Fabaceae
Dark Green Swainson-pea
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Regional Species Conservation Assessments per IBRA subregion.
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Near threatened
Rare
Vulnerable
Endangered
Critically endangered
Extinct
Data deficient
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Etymology

Swainsona named after Isaac Swainson (1746-1812, an English scientist and horticulturalist who had a private botanic garden near London. Fuscoviridis from the Latin 'fuscus' meaning dark and 'viridis' meanining green; referring to the dark colour of vegetative parts in dried material.

Distribution and status

Endemic to South Australia and confined to an area west of Broken Hill. Native. Very rare in South Australia.
Herbarium region: Eastern
NRM region: South Australian Arid Lands
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

An erect or prostrated perennial herb to 25cm high with numerous hair stems arising from a taproot. Leaves to 6cm long with 7-9 hairy, elliptic to linear or obovate leaflets. Flowers purple on densely often dark stalk. Fruits are hairy, leather dark pod to 14mm long. Seeds are orang/brown mottled, semi-flat reniform seeds to 2mm long with a wrinkled surface. Seed embryo type is bent.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between October and November. Collect mature pods, those turning black and contain hard seeds. Mature pods can be found lying on the ground next to the plant. Place the pods in a tray and leave to dry for a week. When dried the pods can become hard and difficult to open. Use a rubber bung to rub the pods or break the pods open with your fingers 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 two collections, the seed viability were high, ranging from 90% to 95%. This species has physical dormancy that need 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
9,800 (22.35 g)
4,900 (11.17 g)
100+21-Oct-2008MJT176
Eastern
20-Jul-200990%-18°C
BGA8,000 (18.58 g)50+21-Oct-2008DJD1164
Eastern
20-Jul-200995%-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.