Kennedia stirlingii


Kennedia stirlingii, commonly known as bushy kennedia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a trailing or twining shrub with trifoliate leaves and orange-red flowers.

Description

Kennedia stirlingii is a trailing or twining shrub that typically grows to a height of wide and has glabrous stems. The leaves are trifoliate, long with stipules long at the base, the leaflets flat. The flowers are uniformly orange-red and borne on hairy pedicels long. The five sepals are hairy and long, the standard petal long, the wings long and the keel long. Flowering occurs from August to November and the fruit is a hairy, flattened pod long.

Taxonomy

Kennedia stirlingii was first formally described in 1844 by John Lindley in Edwards's Botanical Register. The specific epithet honours James Stirling.

Distribution and habitat

Bushy kennedia grows on granite outcrop, hillsides and moist areas in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest and Swan Coastal Plain biogeographic regions in south-western Western Australia.

Conservation status

Kennedia stirlingii is listed as "not threatened" under the Western Australian Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016.