Mirbelia ovata

{{Short description|Species of legume}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}

{{Speciesbox

|image = Mirbelia ovata.jpg

|image_caption =

|genus = Mirbelia

|species = ovata

|status_system =

|status =

|authority = Meisn.{{cite web|title=Mirbelia ovata|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/97170|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=11 July 2022}}

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Mirbelia ovata is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a spreading or prostrate shrub that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|15–60|cm}} and many branches, covered with woolly or shaggy hairs. Its leaves are egg-shaped, less than {{cvt|12|mm}} long and sharply-pointed. The flowers are arranged in pairs or threes at the base of branches and are yellow or orange and purple and appear from August to October.{{FloraBase|name=Mirbelia ovata|id=4096}}{{cite book |last1=Bentham |first1=George |last2=von Mueller |first2=Ferdinand |title=Flora Australiensis |date=1864 |publisher=Lovell Reeve & Co. |location=London |page=34 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/26122795#page/48/mode/1up |access-date=11 July 2022}} It was first formally described in 1844 by Carl Meissner in Lehmann's Plantae Preissianae.{{cite web|title=Mirbelia ovata|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/522175 |publisher=APNI|access-date=11 July 2022}}{{cite book |last1=Meissner |first1=Carl |last2=Lehmann |first2=Johann G.C. |title=Plantae Preissianae |volume=1|date=1844 |location=Hamburg |page=77 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/498179#page/82/mode/1up |access-date=11 July 2022}} The specific epithet (ovata) means "wider below the middle".{{cite book |last1=Sharr |first1=Francis Aubi |last2=George |first2=Alex |title=Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings |date=2019 |publisher=Four Gables Press |location=Kardinya, WA |isbn=9780958034180 |page=268 |edition=3rd}}

This mirbelia grows on undulating plains in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee and Warren bioregions of south-western Western Australia, and is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.