Bossiaea celata

Bossiaea celata is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a compact, many-branched shrub with flattened cladodes, leaves reduced to scales, and yellow to pinkish-red pea-like flowers.

Description
Bossiaea celata is a compact, intricately branched shrub that typically grows up to 0.8 m high and 3 m wide with foliage that is glaucous when young. The stems are flattened with slightly winged cladodes 2–3 mm wide. The leaves are reduced to egg-shaped scales 0.9–3.3 mm long and 0.8–2.1 mm wide. The flowers are arranged singly or in pairs, each flower on a pedicel 1.5–4.0 mm long with five to seven broadly egg-shaped bracts up to 3.3 mm long. The sepals are joined at the base forming a tube 2.2–4.6 mm long, the two upper lobes 1.2–2.4 mm long and the three lower lobes slightly longer with an narrow egg-shaped bracteole 2.0–3.6 mm long near the base. The standard petal is yellow with a pinkish-red base around two greenish-yellow "eyes" and 8.7–11.6 mm long, the wings 8.0–10.3 mm long, pinkish-red and orange-yellow, the keel pinkish red and 8.0–10.4 mm long. Flowering occurs from September to October and the fruit is an oblong pod 20–22 mm long.

Taxonomy and naming
Bossiaea celata was first formally described in 2006 by James Henderson Ross in the journal Muelleria from specimens collected in Boorabbin National Park in 1998. The specific epithet (celata) means "concealed", referring to the difficulty of locating specimens of this species.

Distribution and habitat
This bossiaea grows in deep sand in open mallee in the Coolgardie biogeographic region of Western Australia.

Conservation status
Bossiaea celata is classified as "Priority Three" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.