Plants of
South Australia
Swainsona lessertiifolia
Fabaceae
Coast Swainson-pea,
Poison Pea
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Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
Marla
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Oodnadatta
Renmark
Wudinna
Keith
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 4

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).

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
4,500 (13.65 g)
4,500 (13.65 g)
313-Nov-2005KHB8
Southern Lofty
7-Aug-200690%-18°C
BGA 
MSB
5,400 (15.18 g)
5,400 (15.18 g)
4016-Nov-2005MKJ144
Murray
7-Aug-200695%-18°C
BGA1,200 (2.62 g)511-Nov-2010TST1093
Murray
1-Jan-2012100%-18°C
BGA38,100 (106.7 g)2011-Nov-2010DJD2009
Murray
1-Jan-201285%-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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