Swainsona similis

Swainsona similis is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to inland eastern Australia. It is an erect or spreading perennial plant with imparipinnate leaves with 5 to 15 narrowly elliptic leaflets and racemes of 5 to 15 purple flowers.

Description
Swainsona similis is an erect or spreading perennial plant that typically grows to a height of up to about 25 cm, and has sparsely-hairy stems. Its leaves are imparipinnate, about 50 mm long with 5 to 15 narrowly elliptic leaflets, the side leaflets usually 5–8 mm long and 1–2 mm wide. There is a stipule 1–6 mm long at the base of the petiole. The flowers are arranged in racemes 100–250 mm long with 5 to 15 flowers on a peduncle 0.5–1.5 mm wide, each flower 6–7 mm long on a pedicel about 0.5–1.5 mm long. The sepals are joined at the base, forming a tube about 2 mm long, the sepal lobes about as long as the tube. The petals are purple, the standard petal 7–11 mm long and wide, the wings about 5.5–9 mm long, and the keel about 5.5–7 mm long and 2.5 mm deep. The fruit is 6–15 mm long and 5–8 mm wide.

Taxonomy and naming
Swainsona similis was first formally described in 1990 by Joy Thompson in the journal Telopea from specimens she collected near Brewarrina in 1968. The specific epithet (similis) refers to this species' similarity to S. recta and  S. parviflora.

Distribution and habitat
This species of pea grows in red soil in grassland or open woodland, on the western plains of New South Wales and inland parts of southern Queensland.