Family: Fabaceae
Bossiaea
Synonymy: Not Applicable Common name: Bossiaeas.
Description:
Shrubs or undershrubs; leaves entire, opposite or alternate or much reduced to scales when the stem is green and flattened into cladodes; stipules small.
Flowers axillary, solitary or in clusters of 2 or 3, pedicellate; bracts firstly imbricate at the base of the pedicels, more or less caducous; calyx 2-lipped, the upper 2 lobes more or less united into an upper lip, the lower 3 narrow and much smaller; bracteoles below the calyx attached to the pedicel, small and persistent or larger and caducous; petals clawed, standard suborbicular, about twice as long as the calyx; wings narrow-ovate, auriculate basally; keel obtuse, auriculate; filaments of the stamens joined to form a tube which is open along the upper side, anthers uniform, ovate or oblong, versatile; ovary stipitate or nearly sessile, 3-20-ovulate, often ciliate; style subulate, incurred, with a small terminal stigma.
Pod flat, linear-oblong, winged along the upper suture, opening in 2 valves which roll back; seed arillate.
Distribution:
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Endemic to Australia, with about 50 species.
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Biology:
No text
Key to Species:
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1. Branches terete, pubescent, with alternate leaves |
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2. Leaves lanceolate-acute, with revolute margins; bracteoles distal on the pedicels |
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B. cinerea 1. |
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2. Leaves ovate to orbicular, flat; bracteoles at the base of the pedicels |
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B. prostrata 3. |
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1. Branches flattened into winged cladodes, glabrous, leafless |
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3. Keel not exceeding the standard, less than 10 mm long; ovary c. 6-ovulate |
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B. ensata 2. |
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3. Keel much exceeding the standard, c. 15 mm long; ovary c. 20-ovulate |
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B. walkeri 4. |
Author:
Not yet available
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