Citation: Smith, Sp. Bot. New Holl. 3:35 (1794).

Derivation: Named after R. Pulteney, a botanist and biographer of Linnaeus.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Bush-Peas.

Description:
Shrubs; leaves simple, entire, usually alternate, stipulate, lamina flat and concave below by the recurved margins or more frequently concave above with involute margins, sometimes channelled or grooved; stipules commonly lanceolate-acuminate, scarious, either united in the lower part or free from each other, occasionally minute and free, those of the floral leaves often considerably modified and bract-like.

Flowers usually yellow, orange-yellow, crimson or purple, single, paired or several at the ends of branches, in umbels or pseudo-umbels, when appearing as a cluster or leafy head, commonly growing out into leafy spikes or racemes when the flowers and fruits become axillary or at first axillary; bracts scarious, often imbricate, caducous or persistant, sometimes wanting and often replaced by the modified stipules of the floral leaves; bracteoles persistent, attached to the calyx tube or less frequently to the pedicel, often showing their leafy origin by having small stipels at the base; calyx upper 2 lobes often united higher up, broader, sometimes falcate, lower usually narrower and longer than the calyx tube; petals long-clawed; standard suborbicular, ovate, cordate, equal to or longer than the wings and keel, usually twice as long as the calyx; wings obovate, usually yellow; keel incurved; all 10 stamens free; ovary pubescent or villous, usually sessile, 2-ovulate, ovules on short funicles; style subulate, often pubescent in the lower part, stigma terminal, minute.

Pod small, ovate in outline, beaked by the persistent style, flat or turgid, brown, pubescent, 1- or 2-seeded; seed arillate.

Distribution:  Endemic to Australia with about 100 species; in S. Aust. of 24 species present 9 are endemic. (All species are illustrated in H.B. Williamson, Proc. R. Soc. Vic., n.s. (1920) 32:210-223; 1.c. (1921) 33:133-148; l.c. (1922) 35:97-107; l.c. (1925) 37:125-129; l.c. (1928) 40:57-61.)

Biology: No text

Key to Species:

1. Leaves flattish sometimes with slightly recurved margins
2. Leaves opposite, oblong-ovate, 3-5 x 2-3 mm, convex, mucronate, villous beneath	P. elachista 6.
2. Leaves alternate
3. Flowers solitary, axillary; pedicels 5-20 mm long, filiform, exceeding the leaves	P. pedunculata 11.
3. Flowers in loose or congested heads; pedicels less than 4 mm long, stout, shorter than the leaves
4. Leaves 5-30 mm long, oblanceolate-cuneate, glabrous, with an apical mucro	P. daphnoides 3.
4. Leaves 4-15 mm long, lanceolate, oblanceolate, oblong or obcordate
5. Leaves obcordate, cuneate, villous beneath	P. scabra 15.
5. Leaves lanceolate or oblanceolate, oblong-elliptic, glabrous (rarely slightly pubescent beneath)	P. stricta 16.
1. Leaves concave, channelled or 1-furrowed above by the involute margins
6. Flowers distinctly pedicellate (pedicels at least 1.5 mm long, exceeding the stipels or bracts)
7. Leaves pungent-pointed, rigid, ovate-lanceolate
8. Leaves glabrous, concave to conduplicate, 6-10 mm long, sessile	P. rigida 14.
8. Leaves pubescent, flattish or concave, 15-20 mm long, petiolate	P. villifera 23.
7. Leaves not pungent-pointed
9. Bracteoles linear, leafy, about as long as the calyx, 2-stipulate
10. Flowers usually more than 3 in a terminal cluster subtended by bracts	P. laxiflora 10.
10. Flowers 1 or 2, axillary, ebracteate	P. quadricolor 13.
9. Bracteoles ovate or lanceolate, scarious, exstipulate
11. Bracteoles lanceolate, exceeding the calyx tube	P. largiflorens 9.
11. Bracteoles ovate, shorter than the calyx tube
12. Leaves 3-7 mm long, linear-obtuse, glabrescent below P. hispidula 7
12. Leaves 8-14 mm long, narrow-linear, terete, pubescent below	P. viscidula 24.
6. Flowers sessile or subsessile, pedicels less than 1.5 mm long, often hidden by (modified) stipels or bracts
13. Stipules conspicuously overlapping and persisting on older branches
14. Bracteoles c. 3 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, exstipulate; standard nearly twice as long as the calyx; leaves pungent-pointed	P. acerosa 1.
14. Bracteoles 6-7 mm long, lanceolate-acuminate, stipulate; standard hardly exceeding the calyx; leaves mucronate	P. vestita 22.
13. Stipules not concealing the branches; standard nearly twice as long as the calyx
15. Leaves pungent-pointed, rigid
16. Leaves linear-terete, 5-10 x c. 0.6 mm	P. acerosa 1.
16. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, 10-20 x 3-8 mm	P. villifera 23.
15. Leaves not pungent-pointed
17. Flowers more than 2 in loose or congested heads, terminal or axillary
18. Bracteoles inserted near the summit of the calyx tube, lanceolate, c. 3 mm long, brown, leathery	P. largiflorens 9.
18. Bracteoles inserted on the base of calyx tube or just below it on the pedicel
19. Leaves ovate or obovate, 2-5 mm long, lamina nearly as wide as long
20. Leaves glabrous except for hirsute margins; bracteoles ovate-lanceolate, villous	P. densifolia 4.
20. Leaves pubescent, bracteoles 3-fid, subulate, villose	P. trifida 20.
19. Leaves oblong, lanceolate or oblanceolate, linear or terete, 7-15 mm long, lamina less than half as wide as long
21. Flowers (c. 6 mm long) in dense heads; bracts dentate, 2-4 mm long, suborbicular, 3-lobed, tightly imbricating the calyx; leaves oblanceolate to linear-lanceolate, never terete, glabrous	P. dentata 5.
21. Flowers in loose heads or axillary; bracts never dentate, loosely imbricating the calyx, sometimes deciduous
22. Bracteoles triangular, c. 1 mm long, shorter than the calyx tube
23. Leaves lanceolate-acuminate, 8-10 mm long, villous and 3-nerved beneath	P. trichophylla 19.
23. Leaves linear-obtuse, 3-10 mm long, hirsute or scabrous below	P. hispidula 7.
22. Bracteoles elliptic-oblong, lanceolate or subulate, 2-4 mm long
24. Bracteoles elliptic-oblong, 1-2 mm long, attached at the base of the calyx; leaves linear-obtuse, concave	P. hispidula 7.
24. Bracteoles lanceolate or subulate,. 2-4 mm long
25. Bracteoles 2-stipulate, attached below the calyx, leaf-like, c. 4 mm long	P. hispidula 7.
25. Bracteoles exstipulate
26. Leaves stout, oblanceolate, 8-12 x 1-3 mm, concave or conduplicate, slightly clavate; bracteoles attached on the base of the calyx; lower 3 calyx teeth lanceolate, not exceeding the upper 2 in length	P. canaliculata 2.
26. Leaves terete, 5-10 x c. 0.5 mm, grooved above; bracteoles attached below the calyx; lower 3 calyx teeth lanceolate-subulate, exceeding the upper 2 in length	P. teretifolia 18.
17. Flowers single or paired, terminal and/or axillary
27. Bracts and bracteoles imbricate and concealing the whole calyx, including the teeth	P. involucrata 8.
27. Calyx exposed whole or partly, the teeth always visible
28. Leaves ovate or obovate, 2-5 mm long, nearly as wide as long	P. trifida 20.
28. Leaves ovate-lanceolate to terete, 2-12 mm long, at least 2 or 3 times as long as wide
29. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, 8-12 mm long, concave and glabrous above, pubescent and 3-nerved below; calyx tube enclosed within the broad brown stipules of the floral leaves; bracts wanting	P. trinervis 21.
29. Leaves oblanceolate or oblong-linear to terete, channelled or 1-furrowed above, 2-12 mm long, more or less conduplicate; calyx tube exposed or enclosed within the bracts. 30. Leaves 8-12 mm long, oblanceolate, conduplicate, slightly clavate, villous, apex not recurved; calyx exposed fully; flowers in a leafy cluster; bracts absent	P. canaliculata 2.
30. Leaves oblong-linear to terete, 2-10 mm long, channelled or l-furrowed above by involute margins
31. Calyx exposed fully; bracteoles subulate; leaves slender-terete, 5-10 mm long, 1-furrowed above
32. Bracteoles exstipulate; calyx villous	P. teretifolia 18.
32. Bracteoles replaced by stipulate floral leaves; calyx velutinous to glabrescent	P. hispidula 7.
31. Calyx surrounded by bracts or the enlarged stipules of the floral leaves; bracteoles lanceolate or ovate
33. Bracts several, broad-ovate, brown, ecostate, closely imbricating the calyx, forming a cup around it	P. prostrata 12.
33. Bracts absent, enlarged stipules of the floral leaves supporting the calyx
34. Bractcoles ovate-lanceolate, costate, scarious, margins ciliate	P. tenuifolia 17.
34. Bracteoles absent, replaced by stipulate floral leaves	P. hispidula 7.

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