Podolobium alpestre

Podolobium alpestre, commonly known as alpine shaggy-pea, is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has oblong to egg-shaped leaves and yellow to orange pea-like flowers with red markings.

Description
Podolobium alpestre is an ascending or low spreading shrub to 1.3 mm high with young stems covered in soft, short hairs. The leaves are arranged in whorls of three or opposite, egg-shaped to broad-oblong, 1-5 cm long and 3-14 mm wide. The pea-shaped flowers are borne in terminal or axillary racemes are yellow-orange, pea-shaped, occasionally with red markings on a silky pedicel 1-3 mm long. The bracts are lance shaped or narrow, tapering to a point and 1-2 mm long. Flowering occurs from November to February and the fruit is an oval shaped pod 8-15 mm long with numerous warty creases, tapering to a point and covered with long, soft straight hairs.

Taxonomy and naming
Podolobium alpestre was first formally described 1855 by Ferdinand von Mueller and the description was published in Definitions of rare or hitherto undescribed Australian Plants, chiefly collected within the boundaries of the colony of Victoria. Mueller gave it the name Oxylobium alpestre. The species was transferred to the genus Podolobium in 1995.

Distribution and habitat
Alpine shaggy-pea occurs in alpine heaths and high-altitude woodland in Victoria, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.