Mirbelia pungens
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| Mirbelia pungens | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Near Bemboka | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Fabales |
| Family: | Fabaceae |
| Subfamily: | Faboideae |
| Genus: | Mirbelia |
| Species: | M. pungens |
| Binomial name | |
| Mirbelia pungens | |
Mirbelia pungens, commonly known as prickly mirbelia,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is an erect or prostrate shrub with sharply-pointed linear leaves and orange-red flowers with blue or purple markings.
Mirbelia pungens is an erect or prostrate shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.3–0.5 m (1 ft 0 in – 1 ft 8 in), and has softly-hairy stems. Its leaves are linear and sharply pointed, mostly 8–15 mm (0.31–0.59 in) long, about 1 mm (0.039 in) wide on a petiole up to 0.5 mm (0.020 in) long. The flowers are arranged singly or in groups of up to four in leaf axils on a peduncle up to about 1 mm (0.039 in) long. The sepals are 2.5–4.0 mm (0.098–0.157 in) long, softly-hairy and joined at the base, the lobes shorter than the sepal tube. The standard petal is orange-red with blue or purple markings, the keel purplish and nearly as long as the wings. Flowering occurs from September to November and the fruit is an oval pod about 3 mm (0.12 in) long.[2][3]
Taxonomy
Mirbelia pungens was first formally described in 1832 by George Don in A General History of Dichlamydeous Plants from an unpublished manuscript by Allan Cunningham.[4][5] The specific epithet (pungens) means "ending in a sharp, hard point".[6]