Jacksonia venosa
Jacksonia venosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south of Western Australia. It is a low, spreading, tufted shrub with greyish-green branches, the end branches sharply-pointed cladodes, leaves reduced to dark brown, egg-shaped scales, yellow-orange to orange flowers with red marking scattered along the branches, and membranous, more or less glabrous, flattened pods.
Description
Jacksonia venosa is a low, spreading, tufted shrub that typically grows up to high and wide. It has greyish-green branches, the end branches sharply-pointed cladodes, its leaves reduced to egg-shaped, dark brown scales, long and wide. The flowers are scattered along the branches on pedicels long, with egg-shaped bracteoles long and wide. The floral tube is long and not ribbed, and the sepals are membranous, the inner surface red, with lobes long, wide and fused for. The standard petal is yellow-orange or orange with red markings on the inner surface, long and deep, the wings yellow-orange to orange with red markings, long, and the keel is dark red, long. The stamens have pink to red filaments, long. Flowering occurs from August to January, and the fruit is a membranous, glabrous or sparsely hairy pod about long and wide.
Taxonomy
Jacksonia venosa was first formally described in 2007 by Jennifer Anne Chappill in Australian Systematic Botany from specimens collected east-north-east of Condingup in 1991. The specific epithet means 'prominently veined', referring to the dark red veins on the outer surface of the standard petal.
Distribution and habitat
This species of Jacksonia grows in shrubland on sand near the south coast of Western Australia between West River and Israelite Bay in the Esperance Plains and Mallee bioregions.
Conservation status
Jacksonia venosa is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.