Bossiaea sericea

Bossiaea sericea is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to higher areas of south-eastern continental Australia. It is an erect shrub with more or less round to heart-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and yellow flowers.

Description
Bossiaea sericea is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 2 m and has stems that are round in cross-section. The leaves are more or less round to hear-shaped or egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, mostly 2–4 mm long and 1.5–5 mm wide with triangular stipules 0.7–2 mm long and longer than the petiole. The upper surface of the leaves is more or less glabrous but the lower surface is covered with fine white hairs. The flowers are 5–7 mm long and arranged singly on a pedicel 1–3.5 mm long with crowded broadly egg-shaped bracts up to 0.7–2.2 mm long at the base and narrow egg-shaped or oblong bracteoles 0.7–2.5 mm long near the base of the sepals. The five sepals are 2.0-3.5 mm long and joined at the base forming a tube, the upper lobes 0.9–1.5 mm long and about 0.8 mm wide, the lower lobes shorter and narrower. The petals are yellow, sometimes tinged with pink on the edges, the standard petal up to about 8 mm long, the wings 1.5–2.0 mm wide, and the keel 2.0–2.5 mm wide. Flowering occurs from December to January and the fruit is a broadly elliptic pod 6–10 mm long and covered rusty hairs or a mixture of pale and rusty hairs.

Taxonomy
Bossiaea sericea was first formally described in 2012 by Ian R. Thompson in the journal Muelleria from specimens collected by Robert Owen Makinson on 3 December 1991 near Omeo. The specific epithet (sericea) is derived from the Latin, sericeus (silky) and refers to the silky undersurface of the leaves.

Distribution and habitat
This bossiaea is found in north-eastern and far eastern Victoria, far south-eastern New South Wales, and in the Australian Capital Territory, growing in alpine and subalpine areas at altitudes above 800 m, growing in heath and woodland (often bordered by grassland).