Platylobium alternifolium

F.Muell. Victorian Flat-pea

S. Sci. Rec. 3: 99 (1883)

APNI

Taxonomic status Accepted

Occurrence status Present – endemic

Establishment means Native

Degree of establishment Native

Threat status

FFG: Vulnerable (VU)

Prostrate or trailing subshrub. Leaves alternate, unifoliolate; petiole 0.3–2 cm long; lamina cordate to ovate, triangular-ovate or almost orbicular, 0.6–2.6 cm long and wide; apex acute or rounded. Flowers 1 per axil; pedicels glabrous to sparingly pubescent, 1.5–2 cm long, concealed by scales and bracts; calyx pinkish-red, margins of lobes fringed, otherwise glabrous, upper lobes 7–9.5 mm long (including tube); ovary glabrous apart from long white hairs on the margins. Pod with wing to 2 mm wide beyond the upper sutural nerve. Flowers Sep.–Nov.

Gold, CVU, GGr, DunT. Rare and apparently confined to east-facing slopes in sclerophyll woodland in the Grampians.

Platylobium alternifolium is the only species in the genus in which the calyces are not clothed with appressed or spreading hairs throughout. The alternate leaves distinguish P. alternifolium from the other species except for P. rotundum. The latter differs in having hairy calyces and the pedicels exserted from the basal bracts and scales.

A sterile specimen from the Bolangum Ranges was formerly referred to this species. However, given the uncertainty attached to identifying sterile material in this genus, it seems probable that this specimen was incorrectly determined. Endeavours in recent years to locate P. alternifolium in the Bolangum Ranges have been unsuccessful.

Source:

Ross, J.H. (1996). Platylobium. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., ‍Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae‍, pp. 816–819. Inkata Press, Melbourne.

Updated by: Val Stajsic, 18 Jan. 2019