Bossiaea stephensonii

Bossiaea stephensonii is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to near-coastal areas of New South Wales. It is a small, weakly erect, multi-stemmed shrub with sharply-pointed, mostly elliptic to egg-shaped leaves, and bright yellow and red flowers.

Description
Bossiaea stephensonii is a weakly erect, multi-stemmed shrub that typically grows to a height of up to about 1 m and is more or less glabrous apart from its young growth. The stems are strongly flattened, 1–3 mm wide and sometimes winged. The leaves are sharply-pointed, mostly elliptic to egg-shaped, 7–20 mm long and 2–7 mm wide on a petiole 1.5–3 mm long. The edges of the leaves curve downwards and there are stipules 4–8 mm long at the base. The flowers are borne singly in leaf axils, each flower 8–12 mm long on a pedicel up to 7 mm long with one or a few bracts 2 mm long at the base, and bracteoles 2.0–2.5 mm long but that fall off as the flower opens. The five sepals are 3–4 mm long and joined at the base forming a tube, the upper lobes 1.2–2.8 mm long and about 1.5 mm wide, the lower lobes shorter and narrower. The standard petal is yellow with a red base and up to 12 mm long, the wings are reddish and 2 mm wide, and the keel is pink grading to dark red and 3 mm wide. Flowering occurs from August to October and the fruit is an oblong pod 15–25 mm long.

Taxonomy
Bossiaeae stephensonii was first formally described in 1887 by Ferdinand von Mueller in Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales from specimens collected "near Wollongong" by the "erudite" "L. Stephenson, B.A.".

Distribution and habitat
This bossiaea grows in forest, woodland and heathland, often found on exposed, near-coastal sandstone, from Port Macquarie to the Illawarra region.