Perennial terrestrial herb, prostrate or weakly ascending. Taproot thick, becoming woody. Stems to 0.6 m, terete, angled when young, glabrous or pubescent. Stipules persistent, membranous, lanceolate, acuminate, base obliquely cordate, 5.5-9.6 by 2-3.9 mm, glabrous or pubescent, margin sometimes sparsely ciliate. Leaves: petiole 0.5-1.5 cm, angled, glabrous or pubescent, usually with a conspicuous gland, rachis angled, occasionally bearing a conspicuous gland just below each pair of pinnae; pinnae 2-4(-6) pairs, 2-4.6 cm; leaflets 7-25 pairs per pinna, oblong, obtuse or broadly acute, sometimes mucronulate, asymmetrical, 4-11.5 by l-2.7(-3.5) mm, surfaces glabrous or pubescent, appearing minutely punctate, margins minutely ciliate (or not), lateral veins raised, reticulate. Inflorescence: peduncles 1.3-4 (-4.5) cm, glabrous or pubescent, with two bracts in the lower half (occasionally a third, much smaller one in the upper half); spikes globoid to nearly ellipsoid in bud, 35-55-flowered. Lower flowers sterile: calyx campanulate, green, 0.6-1 mm; teeth acute, 0.2-0.3 mm; petals elliptic, 1.3-2.1 mm; staminodes (3-)5, oblong, yellow, 6-9.2 mm. Upper flowers bisexual: calyx campanulate, green, 0.9-1.4 mm, teeth acute, 0.3-0.5 mm; petals elliptic, green, 1.6-2.2 mm; stamens (3-)5, free, white, 2.8-3.4 mm; anthers yellow, eglandular; ovary 0.6-0.8 mm, stipitate, usually pubescent. Pod brown, ovoid, flat, membranaceous or coriaceous, pubescent, dehiscent at the margins, 7.1-10 by 5.5-7 mm, stipe 1.5-3 mm, longer than the persistent calyx. Seeds 1 (or 2) per pod, dark brown, orbicular, compressed, 3-3.9 mm by 2.6-3 mm; areole c. 2 by 1 mm, open towards the hilum.
More
Prostrate, glabrous or finely puberulous to villous herb. Leaves: stipules persistent, inequilaterally ovate to lanceolate, caudate-acuminate, 3-9.5 mm long, 1.5-4 mm wide; leaf axes eglandular or with 1 circular to oval gland in upper 2/3 of petiole and sometimes 1 or more between pinnae pairs; pinnae narrowly oblong to elliptic-oblong, 2-5-jugate, the longest 12-30 (-40) mm long, sometimes subtended by linear processes to 0.7 mm long; leaflets 7-25-jugate, oval to oblong, obtuse or apiculate, 3-7 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, glabrous or ciliolate to ciliate. Inflorescence axillary, subglobular to ellipsoidal heads; peduncles 10-65 mm long with 2 cordate bracts in basal third, 3-10.5 mm long. Flowers yellowish; lower ones with calyx 0.6-1 mm long and petals 1.3-2.1 mm long; upper ones with calyx 0.9-1.4 mm long and petals 1.6-2.2 mm long. Pod oval, compressed, 7-10 mm long, 5-7 mm wide, ±chartaceous, puberulous to pilose. Seed 1, subcircular to broadly ovate, 3-4.5 mm long, 2.5-3.5 mm wide, smooth or pitted, dark brown.
Grows in moist, grassy places often along streams, waterholes and near swamps, infrequently in Eucalyptus or mulga woodland, in sandy, sandy clay, sandy clay-loam, clay, loam and lateritic sand and gravel.
Home
