Swainsona halophila

Swainsona halophila is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to inland areas of Western Australia. It is usually a prostrate annual herb with imparipinnate leaves with 9 to 13 egg-shaped to broadly wedge-shaped leaflets, and racemes of 2 to 9 purple flowers.

Description
Swainsona halophila is usually a prostrate, rarely an ascending annual herb, that typically grows to a height of about 15 cm and has several stems 0.5–1.5 mm wide. Its leaves are imparipinnate 10–80 mm long with 9 to 13 egg-shaped to broadly wedge-shaped leaflets with the narrower end towards the base, 1–7 mm long and 1–5 mm wide. There is a stipule 1–4 mm long at the base of the petiole. The flowers are arranged in racemes 10–150 mm long with 2 to 9 flowers on a peduncle 0.5–1.5 mm long, each flower 6–8 mm long in on a dark, softly hairy pedicel 1–3 mm long. The sepals are joined at the base, forming a tube 1.5–2.0 mm long, the sepal lobes shorter than the tube. The petals are purple, the standard petal 6–9 mm long and 7–9 mm wide, the wings 6–8 mm long, and the keel 6–8 mm long. Flowering occurs from July to September, and the fruit is an elliptic pod about 15 mm long and 7 mm wide with a stalk about 1 mm long and the remains of the style about 4 mm long.

Taxonomy
Swainsona halophila was first formally described in 1993 by Joy Thompson in the journal Telopea from specimens collected near "Mt Sir Samuel, near Lawlers", by Charles Gardner in 1931. The specific epithet (halophila) means "salt-loving".

Distribution and habitat
This species of Swainsona grows on clay flats and near salt lakes in the Gascoyne and Murchison bioregions of inland Western Australia.