Pultenaea stipularis



Pultenaea stipularis, commonly known as handsome bush-pea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It is an erect shrub with glabrous stems, linear to narrow elliptic leaves, and yellow to orange flowers, sometimes with red markings.

Description
Pultenaea stipularis is an erect shrub that typically grow to a height of 0.8–2 m and has glabrous stems. The leaves are arranged alternately, linear to narrow elliptic, 15–26 mm long and 1–2 mm wide with stipules 7.8–9.3 mm long at the base. The flowers are arranged in dense clusters at the ends of branches and are 10–15 mm long, each flower on a pedicel 1–2 mm long with overlapping bracts at the base. The sepals are 7.5–8.5 mm long, joined at the base, and there are linear to triangular bracteoles 5.7–6.8 mm long attached to the side of the sepal tube. The standard petal is yellow to orange with red markings and 8.5–12.5 mm long, the wings are yellow to orange and 8.2–12.3 mm long and the keel is yellow to reddish-brown and 8.0–11.2 mm long. Flowering occurs from August to November and the fruit is a pod about 6.5 mm long.

Taxonomy
Pultenaea stipularis was first formally described in 1794 by James Edward Smith in A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland.

Distribution and habitat
Handsome bush-pea grows in forest and tall heathland between Gosford on the Central Coast and Jervis Bay on the South Coast of New South Wales.