Bossiaea eremaea

Bossiaea eremaea is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is an openly-branched, spreading, more or less leafless shrub with deep yellow and purplish flowers.

Description
Bossiaea eremaea is an openly-branched, spreading shrub that typically grows up to 1.2 m high and 1.5 m wide with young branchlets that or slightly flattened to oval in cross-section. The leaves, when present, are oval, elliptic or oblong, 2.2–6 mm long and 1.7–3.5 mm wide, but usually quickly fall off. The flowers are arranged singly or in small groups, each flower on a pedicel 1–5 mm long with overlapping, broadly egg-shaped bracts up to 1.0 mm long. The sepals are joined at the base forming a tube 2–4 mm long, with five pinkish-red lobes, the two upper lobes 0.9–1.9 mm long and the three lower lobes 0.8–1.2 mm long, with egg-shaped bracteoles 1.1–1.5 mm long on the pedicel. The standard petal is deep yellow with a purplish-brown base and 6.8–10.1 mm long, the wings pinkish-red with a yellow tip and 6.1–8.5 mm long, the keel purplish-red and 5.8–8.1 mm long. Flowering occurs from July to September and the fruit is a pod 16–21 mm long.

Taxonomy and naming
Bossiaea eremaea was first formally described in 2006 by James Henderson Ross in the journal Muelleria from specimens he collected east of Mount Magnet in 1998. The specific epithet (eremaea) means "desert", referring to the deep sand in which this species grows.

Distribution and habitat
This bossiaea grows in deep sand in woodland from near Sandstone to near Laverton in the Great Victoria Desert and Murchison biogeographic regions of Western Australia.

Conservation status
Bossiaea eremaea 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.