Polygala crassitesta R.A.Kerrigan

Species

Angiosperms > Fabales > Polygalaceae > Polygala

Characteristics

Annual herb, erect with ascending branches or ± decumbent with spreading branches, up to 56 cm high; indumentum of curved and straight hairs, occasionally with only curved hairs on stems. Leaves linear, narrowly elliptic to elliptic, oblanceolate to obovate, 3–85 mm long, 1–16 mm wide; apex rounded, truncate or retuse, rarely acute, mucro 0.4–0.5 mm long; petiole 0–2.5 mm long. Inflorescence axillary or supra-axillary, rarely a solitary flower, usually a raceme to 80 mm long, not exceeding the leaves. Pedicel to 2.5 mm long. Alae perpendicular, becoming deflexed in fruit (position), herbaceous, ovate and elliptic to very widely elliptic, 3.9–7.0 mm long, 2.9–5.7 mm wide, with straight and curved hairs. Corolla purple; floral appendages fimbriate; upper petal claw 1.2 mm wide; keel petal with slight lateral pocket development or pocket absent. Stamens terminate at stigma, monadelphous; staminal flap 1.0–1.2 mm wide. Style hooked (horseshoe-shaped at apex), often with beak on outer edge of bend visible in dried material, ± terete at base but becoming dorso-ventrally flattened below hook and twisting in apical half, with flat stigma along inner surface of hook. Capsule deflexed, ± aligned with alae, (with wing 0.55–2.00 mm wide), ± equal throughout, symmetrical, widely elliptic, ovate, oblong or occasionally orbicular, 5.3–6.5 mm long, 3.7–5.7 mm wide; lobe apices rounded and separated. Seed shape irregularly obloid (hour-glass shaped), 4.2–5.7 mm long, 1.7–2.4 mm wide; testa thickened adjacent to aril; indumentum of fine white hairs. Aril head round, 0.4–0.8 mm long, white and brown or black, short hairs present. Aril appendages 3, linear, 2.4–4.6 mm long.
Life form
Growth form herb
Growth support -
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.56
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color -
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

Almost always found on clay or cracking clay soils in grasslands with Dichanthium, Astrebla and Iseilema, often with Eucalyptus microtheca, E. pruinosa, Corymbia terminalis or Bauhinia cunninghamiana.
Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 8-12

Usage

Uses -
Edible -
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
Germination duration (days) 30 - 60
Germination temperacture (C°) 15 - 18
Germination luminosity light
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Distribution

Polygala crassitesta world distribution map, present in Australia

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77119241-1
WFO ID wfo-0001332930
COL ID 4L7DZ
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Polygala crassitesta