Peas that Please #1; mostly local

The pea family Fabaceae (formerly Papilionaceae for the supposed butterfly resemblance of the flowers) is one of the largest in the world, with over 12,000 species; more than a thousand of these are native to Australia. (And for the purposes of this blog I am going to use the more traditional definition of the family, and not include all the wattles (family Mimosaceae) and sennas, cassias etc (family Caesalpinaceae), as is often done today.)

The family name incidentally is something of an anomaly. The modern convention is to name a family after the first genus in that family to have been described. It's a sensible and seemingly fool-proof rule, or so it would seem. However... The first pea to be scientifically described was the Broad Bean, called Faba faba by the great Linnaeus; it was the only member of the genus. So far so good - but again, however... Later research showed that it in fact belonged in the large genus Vicia, so Vicia faba it became, leaving Faba as a non-genus - but still the type genus of the Family and the basis of its name! I'll move along now.

Native peas are found from the coast to the tops of the highest ranges, and from rainforest to desert dunes. 

Green Birdflower Crotolaria cunninghamii, growing on a red sand dune
in the Great Sandy Desert, Western Australia.

Bush Pea Pultenea sp. growing in heathland by the sea,
Tomaree NP, central coast NSW.

Narrow-leaved Bitterpea Daviesia mimosoides under the misty Snow Gums
in the Australian Alps, Namadgi National Park, Australian Capital Territory.

They may grow as trees, shrubs or modest herbs. The flowers may be almost any colour or size, but their structure makes almost any pea flower instantly recognisable.

Leafy Bossiaea B. foliosa flower, a typical pea.
It has five petals, dominated by a large erect standard.
Below that is a pair of projecting wings, and beneath them, often
hidden by them, is another pair of petals fused to form the keel.
In most Australian peas the stamens are exposed by a pollinating insect when
it presses the wings and keel down out of the way.

Another feature common to all peas (but not unique to them) is the development of seeds in a pod. The pod may be long, like those of edible green peas and beans...

Silver Bush Sophora tomentosa, Port Macquarie; this is a threatened
species, growing north along the coast from here into Queensland.

... but many are not.

Golden Shaggy-Pea Oxylobium ellipticum, Namadgi National Park.
The new pods are egg-shaped and distinctly shaggy!

Broad-leaved Bitterpea Daviesia latifolia, Carrington Falls, southern NSW.
In this large and familiar genus, the pods are triangular.

For the remainder of this post I'll simply introduce some of the commonest native peas growing in the ACT - in a not-too-distant sequel I'll do the same for a range of wonderful pea plants from other parts of Australia. For the most part I'll simply bring them on in alphabetical order, to avoid accusations of favouritism.

Dusky Scurfpea Cullen microcephalum (until recently known as Psoralea adscendens)
Namadgi National Park. A sprawling ground-cover often found growing on
mountain management tracks.

Narrow-leaved Bitterpea Daviesia mimosoides (above and below) is found
from the hills around Canberra up into the Snow Gums.
It is a vigorous post-fire sprouter.

Broom (or Gorseleaf) Bitterpea Daviesia ulicifolia also grows at all
altitudes in the ACT; this one was high in the ranges. It is a much smaller
(and pricklier!) bush than Narrow-leaved Bitterpea.

Showy (or Silky) Parrot-Pea Dillwynia sericea is a common understorey
plant in the hills of Canberra. This one too has egg-shaped pods.

Small-leaved Parrot-Pea Dillwynia phylicoides (formerly regarded as a subspecies of D. retorta),
Black Mountain. This genus has a very broad standard, leading to the useful little
mnemonic 'Dillwynias are wingier'.

Wedgepea Gompholobium huegelii is a very striking large-flowered
pea which blooms in summer when not many other flowers are about.

False Sarparilla seems a most unsatisfactory name for such a magnificent
sign of spring (above and below); we can always call it Hardenbergia violacea
of course. Like all peas it has root nodules of nitrogen-fixing bacteria - plants
themselves can't extract the essential nitrogen from the air - so it can, and
does, often grow in the most inhospitable-looking sites, on rocky
road-cuttings, quarries and bare soil.

Hardenbergia is a vigorous trailer, and will climb into nearby bushes.

Creeping Hovea Hovea heterophylla, Black Mountain. Another purple pea,
this small herb is one of the first wildflowers locally to appear after winter.

Australian Indigo Indigofera australis is a familiar spindly shrub
in the Canberra hills and ranges, here on Black Mountain.
Other members of the genus, elsewhere in the world, are the source
of the dye indigo, from the leaves; originally it was imported to Europe from India,
from Indigofera tinctoria.

Spectacular mass flowering of Australian Indigo on Gungahlin Hill in Canberra.

Common (or Golden) Shaggy-Pea Oxlyobium ellipticum grows high in the ranges
- here on Mount Ginini in Namadgi NP - but also at lower altitudes.
It is a tall shrub and provides an impressive flowering spectacle in early summer.

Alpine Shaggy-pea Podolobium alpestre (which used to be included in the previous genus)
is mostly only found at high altitudes and is a lower shrub than Common Shaggy-Pea.

Heathy Bush-Pea Pultenea procumbens is a common low shrub in Canberra
Nature Park and the lower slopes of the ranges.

And here I've broken the alphabetic listing and abandoned objectivity, to leave one of my favourites to last. Leafy Bossiaea is not of itself an especially striking shrub, though the small clear yellow flowers are very pretty, but in a good flowering year it carpets the mountain floor under the Snow Gums and stains distant mountain sides yellow. I love it.

The slopes of Mount Gingera stained yellow (through some mist) by Bossiaea;
from the top of  Mount Ginini, Namadgi NP

Leafy Bossiaea B. foliosa, Mount Ginini, Namadgi National Park.

But as you've probably divined, I'm pretty fond of peas in general, and look forward to bringing you some more in the nearish future.

 

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