Common name: Dwarf koa
Desmanthus virgatus (L.) Willd. APNI* Description: Under-shrub or small shrub up to 2 m high, habit variable, nearly erect or (more commonly) diffuse or decumbent; branchlets glabrous.
Leaves moderately small, bipinnate, closing when touched; 10 to 30 leaflet pairs per pinna; leaflets 2–9 mm long, 1–3 mm wide, margin sparsely hairy; petiole usually no more than 5 mm long; one oval gland near base of petiole or basal pair of pinnae; stipule 3–6 mm long, persistent.
Inflorescence of axillary, pedunculate heads toward the tips of the twigs; head small, 10–30 mm diam., dense, few-flowered; the flowers all erect, whitish, sessile;
Legume narrowly cylindrical, c. 50 mm long.
Flowering: Irregularly throughout year, often summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Used as a pasture species. Escaped from paddocks. Recorded as a weedy species in the Darwin (Northern Territory) to Queensland; also naturalised in Florida (U.S.A.), South Africa, Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean islands. Growing in Open Woodland along water-course (channel), in brown-grey silty clay soil.
NSW subdivisions: *NWP
Text by B.J. Conn & J.R. Hosking (2006)
Taxon concept: Flora of Australia (1998)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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