Lechenaultia divaricata



Lechenaultia divaricata, commonly known as tangled leschenaultia, wirenetting bush or wirebush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Goodeniaceae and is endemic to arid and semi-arid areas of central Australia.

Description
Lechenaultia divaricata is an erect subshrub that typically grows to a height of up to 100 cm and has many spreading branches and glabrous foliage. The leaves are reduced to scattered, membrane-like, triangular scales 1–3 mm long. The flowers are arranged singly on the ends of branchlets, the sepals 1.5–2.0 mm long. The petals are creamy-white to yellow, 13–20 mm long, the wings on the lower petal lobes triangular, 1.5–2.5 mm wide and fringed, on the upper lobes up to 0.4 mm wide. Flowering occurs sporadically throughout the year and the fruit is a cylindrical capsule 9–32 mm long.

Taxonomy
Lechenaultia divaricata was first formally described in 1862 by Ferdinand von Mueller in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae from specimens collected near Coopers Creek. The specific epithet (divaricata) means "widely-spreading".

Distribution and habitat
Tangled leschenaultia grows in sand, often on sand dunes in mulga scrub and woodland in arid and semi-arid areas of inland South Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales.