Hovea purpurea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Velvet hovea | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Fabales |
| Family: | Fabaceae |
| Subfamily: | Faboideae |
| Genus: | Hovea |
| Species: | H. purpurea |
| Binomial name | |
| Hovea purpurea | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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Hovea purpurea, commonly known as velvet hovea,[2] is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is an upright shrub with narrow leaves, purple pea flowers and stems with matted hairs. It grows in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
Hovea purpurea is a shrub to 3 m (9.8 ft) high, stems with brownish to dark grey, short, densely matted, curled or more or less straight, flattened to nearly spreading hairs. The leaves strap like to narrow-elliptic, 1.2–7 cm (0.47–2.76 in) long and 4–17 mm (0.16–0.67 in) wide, flat either side of a recessed midrib, blunt to sharp at the base, margins curved, apex rounded or almost pointed. The leaf upper surface a shiny green, smooth except for hairs on midrib, under surface thickly covered with cream-brown, curly hairs, faintly veined, midrib hairs thick and brown-orange. The inflorescence usually in clusters of 1-3 mauve, purple or occasionally white flowers, bracts broadly egg-shaped to oval, 2.2–3.5 mm (0.087–0.138 in) long and inserted near base of the pedicel that is about 2.5 mm (0.098 in) long. The standard petal is 11.5–17 mm (0.45–0.67 in) long and 10–15 mm (0.39–0.59 in) wide, with darker purple markings and a pale yellow centre, the wing 10.3–15.5 mm (0.41–0.61 in) long and 3.5–4.5 mm (0.14–0.18 in) wide, keel 3.5–4.5 mm (0.14–0.18 in) wide. Flowering occurs from October to December and the fruit is an elliptic shaped pod, 10–17 mm (0.39–0.67 in) long, 8–11 mm (0.31–0.43 in) deep, sessile and moderately covered with pale hairs.[2][3][4][5]