Friday, October 29, 2010

Slender Darling Pea

Swainsona brachycarpa
Family: FABACEAE

I've had difficulty identifying this plant, but decided it must be S. brachycarpa. If there are any readers out there with another opinion, I'd like to hear from you!


It resembles Swainsona queenslandica, another plant which spreads by underground rhizomes, but is smaller, and has these lovely salmon-red flowers. As you can see, it makes a dense ground-cover at this time of the year. Is flowering profusely now, and will continue to have a sprinkling of flowers right up until May. It may vanish for a few month in winter, when it dies back to its underground stems.





I photographed it last weekend at Gowrie Junction. It is already beginning to put out a few of its (typical Swainsona) inflated seedpods. Note their curled up tails.



A very pretty plant for gardens, this one could be allowed to ramble among shrubs, added to a grassland garden, or put in amongst other perennials in a flowerbed..

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Team, I don't think this is S.brachycarpa.

Patricia Gardner said...

Neither do I!
I would love to know who you are, and where you live, that you have enough knowledge about Swainsona to make this comment.
Do you have a name for it? Or do you think it is a new species? Attempts to get any other answer from the Qld Herbarium come back as an identification of brachycarpa.
Would you like to email me to talk about it?
Trish