Kennedia carinata


Kennedia carinata is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a prostrate shrub with trifoliate leaves and reddish-purple, pea-like flowers.

Description

Kennedia carinata is a prostrate shrub with trifoliate leaves long with stipules present at the base of the petiole. The flowers are arranged on a hairy pedicel long. The five sepals are hairy and long, the standard petal reddish-purple and long, the wings long, and the keel long. Flowering occurs from September to November and the fruit is a flattened, hairy pod long and wide.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1837 by George Bentham who gave it the name Physolobium carinatum in Enumeratio plantarum quas in Novae Hollandiae ora austro-occidentali ad fluvium Cygnorum et in sinu Regis Georgii collegit Carolus Liber Baro de Hügel from specimens collected by Charles von Hügel near King George's Sound. In 1855 Louis Benoit Van Houtte changed the nae to Kennedia carinata. The specific epithet means "keeled", referring to the petal keel.

Distribution and habitat

This kennedia grows on swampy river flats and the lower slopes of hills in the Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest, Swan Coastal Plain and Warren biogeographic regions of south-western Western Australia.

Conservation status

Kennedia carinata is classified as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.