Swainsona procumbens, commonly known as Broughton pea or swamp pea[3] is a species of flowering plant in the pea family (Fabaceae), and is native to Australia. It is a spreading or ascending perennial shrub-like herb with imparipinnate leaves with 15 to 25 linear to narrowly lance-shaped leaflets with the narrower end towards the base, and racemes of 2 to 12 purple or mauve to pink flowers.

Swainsona procumbens
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Genus: Swainsona
Species:
S. procumbens
Binomial name
Swainsona procumbens
(F.Muell) F.Muell.[1]
Synonyms[2]

Cyclogyne procumbens F.Muell.
Swainsona violacea Hend.

Description

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Swainsona procumbens is a spreading or ascending, perennial shrub-like herb, with more or less glabrous smooth stems, and grows up to 50 cm (20 in) high. The leaves are from 50–150 mm (2.0–5.9 in) long, and imparipinnate with from 15 to 25 leaflets which have apices which are either notched or obtuse, and are 5–25 mm (0.20–0.98 in) long and 1–5 mm (0.039–0.197 in) wide. The leaflet surfaces are glabrous, or sometimes with soft hairs on the lower surface. There are stipules 2–7 mm (0.079–0.276 in) long at the base of the petioles. The flowers are arranged in racemes of 2 to 12, the flowers mostly 8–15 mm (0.31–0.59 in) long, with sepals joined at the base, forming a tube 2.0–2.5 mm (0.079–0.098 in) long, the lobes longer than the tube. The standard petal is 6–16 mm (0.24–0.63 in) long and 9–22 mm (0.35–0.87 in) wide, the wings about 9–15 mm (0.35–0.59 in) long and the keel about 8–12 mm (0.31–0.47 in) long and about 3 mm (0.12 in) deep. Flowering occurs from May to October, and the fruit is an elliptic, curved pod 15–35 mm (0.59–1.38 in) long and 5–8 mm (0.20–0.31 in) long, with the remains of the style 10–20 mm (0.39–0.79 in) long.[3][4][5][6]

Taxonomy

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Swainsona procumbens was first formally described in 1853 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Cyclogyne procumbens, in the journal Linnaea: Ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange, oder Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde from specimens collected near the Broughton River,[7][8] but in 1859, Mueller reassigned it to the genus, Swainsona as S. procumbens in his Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae.[9][10] The specific epithet (procumbens) means procumbent.[11]

Distribution and habitat

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Broughton pea grows on heavy, frequently water logged soils or on sand dunes and is found on the western slopes and plains of inland New South Wales, in inland Victoria and in Queensland.[3][5][6]


References

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  1. ^ "Swainsona procumbens". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Swainsona procumbens (F.Muell.) F.Muell. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  3. ^ a b c Thompson, Joy; James, Teresa A. "Swainsona procumbens". Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  4. ^ Thonpson, Joy (1993). "A revision of the genus Swainsona (Fabaceae)". Telopea. 5 (3): 541–542. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  5. ^ a b Jeanes, Jeff A.; Stajsic, Val. "Swainsona procumbens". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Swainsona procumbens". State Herbarium of South Australia. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  7. ^ "Swainsona procumbers". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  8. ^ Mueller, F.J.H. von (1853). "Diagnoses et descriptiones plantarum novarum, quas in Nova Hollandia". Linnaea: Ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange, oder Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde. 25: 393.
  9. ^ "Swainsona procumbers". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  10. ^ Mueller, F.J.H. von (1859). "Leguminosae". Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae. 1 (4): 76.
  11. ^ George, A.S; Sharr, F.A (2021). Western Australian Plant Names and their meanings (4th ed.). Kardinya: Four Gables. p. 283. ISBN 9780958034197.
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