Hovea purpurea Sweet APNI* Synonyms: Hovea beckeri sensu James (1991) APNI*
Description: Shrub up to 3 m tall. Indumentum of branchlets, petiole, stipules, pedicel, abaxial surfaces of bract and bracteoles and external surface of calyx dense, brown to light or dark grey, hairs curled or ± straight, appressed to almost spreading, spreading hairs extending above understorey hair.
Leaves narrow-elliptic or narrow-oblong to lorate, 1.2–7 cm long, 4–17 mm wide, flat each side of a recessed midrib, base rounded to obtuse, margins recurved, apex rounded to subacute, mucro up to 1 mm long; upper surface green, subglossy, glabrous except for hairs along midrib, venation not distinct; lower surface completely obscured by cream to tan curled hairs, midrib hairs dense, orange-brown, venation pattern faintly visible. Stipules narrow-ovate lanceolate, 1–2 mm long.
Inflorescences sessile, mostly 2-flowered. Flowers with bracts inserted 1–2 mm distal to base of pedicel, broad-ovate, ovate or obovate, 2.2–3.5 mm long; bracteoles inserted at base of calyx, oblong or obovate, 2.5–4 mm long; calyx 5.2–8.5 mm long; sometimes with a dense overstorey of white, weakly appressed hairs; tube 2.5–6 mm long; upper lip 3.5–4 mm wide across base, apex of lobes ± truncate, intervening sinus c. 0.5 mm deep; lower lip 4.5–6 mm wide across base, lateral and lower lobes c. 2–3 mm long. Standard 11.5–17 mm long, 10–15 mm wide, claw 4–6 mm long, limb mauve, flare green-yellow, 2.5–3 mm wide, bordered by a zone of deep mauve; wing 10.3–15.5 mm long, 3.5–4.5 mm wide, claw c. 4 mm long; keel 9.6–15.2 mm long, 3.5–4.5 mm wide, claw c. 4 mm long; style hairy for the first 6 mm. Pod broad-elliptic in profile, 10–17 mm long, 8–11 mm deep, sessile, external surface moderately obscured by a close, pale to golden indumentum, hairs crumpled to ± straight, internal surface moderately hairy.
Pod broad-elliptic in profile, 10–17 mm long, 8–11 mm deep, sessile, external surface moderately obscured by a close, pale to golden indumentum, hairs crumpled to ± straight, internal surface moderately hairy. Seeds ellipsoid, 5.5–7 mm long, 3.5–4.5 mm wide, olive to black-brown, aril narrow-ovate, 3–4 mm long, 1.8 mm wide, c. 50–60% of the curved length of seed.
Flowering: Flowers in October–December. Fruit matures in January–March.
Distribution and occurrence: Occurs in eastern NSW from Mt Kaputar south to the far south-eastern corner, and in far eastern Victoria and south-central South Australia at Mt Remarkable, Grows on rocky ridges and by streams on various substrates in forest, woodland and riparian scrub.
NSW subdivisions: SC, NT, CT, ST, NWS
Other Australian states: Vic. S.A.
Hovea purpurea is widely distributed but the populations recorded are relatively few and they are widely disjunct.
Text by Louisa Murray
Taxon concept: I.R. Thompson (2001) Eastern Australian Hovea (Brongniartieae-Fabaceae). Australian Systematic Botany, Vol 14, pp 71-72.
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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