Botanical art
Common names
Coast Swainson-pea
Poison Pea
Etymology
Swainsona named after Isaac Swainson (1746-1812, an English scientist and horticulturalist who had a private botanic garden near London. Lessertiifolia named for Jules Paul Benjamin de Lessert, 19th century French banker and amateur botanist, who owned a private herbarium used by de Candolle who described the species.
Distribution and status
Found along the coast and occasionally extending inland on Eyre Peninsula, Mount Lofty ranges, Kangaroo Island and the Southeast regions of South Australia on calcareous dunes or sea-cliffs associated with limestone. Also found in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Native. Common in SA. Common in other states.
Herbarium regions: Eyre Peninsula, Murray, Yorke Peninsula, Southern Lofty, Kangaroo Island, South Eastern, Green Adelaide
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Eyre Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)
Plant description
A decumbent shrubby perennial herb to 60cm high with numerous stems arising from a taproot. Leaves mostly 5-15cm with 15-41 narrow-elliptic to elliptic leaflets. Flowers purple rarely white, often with 2 yellowish-green blotches centrally. Flowering June - October. Fruits are pod sessile or subsessile, oblong or ovoid-oblong, 5-15mm long, inflated, with firm walls. Seeds are dark brown mottle semi-flat reinform seed 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 usually black. Mature pods can be found lying on the ground next to the plant containing hard seeds. 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 four collections, the seed viability were high, ranging from 85% to 100%. This species has physical dormancy that need to be overcome for the seed to germinate (e.g. nicking or softening the seed coat).
Location | No. of seeds (weight grams) | Number of plants | Date collected | Collection number Collection location | Date stored | % Viability | Storage temperature |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BGA MSB | 4,500 (13.65 g) 4,500 (13.65 g) | 3 | 13-Nov-2005 | KHB8 Southern Lofty | 7-Aug-2006 | 90% | -18°C |
BGA MSB | 5,400 (15.18 g) 5,400 (15.18 g) | 40 | 16-Nov-2005 | MKJ144 Murray | 7-Aug-2006 | 95% | -18°C |
BGA | 1,200 (2.62 g) | 5 | 11-Nov-2010 | TST1093 Murray | 1-Jan-2012 | 100% | -18°C |
BGA | 38,100 (106.7 g) | 20 | 11-Nov-2010 | DJD2009 Murray | 1-Jan-2012 | 85% | -18°C |