Podolobium procumbens
{{Short description|Species of legume}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Speciesbox
|name = Trailing shaggy-pea
|image = Podolobium procumbens.jpg
|image_caption = Podolobium procumbens in Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park
|genus = Podolobium
|species = procumbens
|authority = (F.Muell.) F.Muell. ex Crisp & P.H.Weston{{cite web |title=Podolobium procumbens |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/155038 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=17 August 2021}}
|synonyms =
- Callistachys procumbens (F.Muell.) Kuntze
- Oxylobium procumbens F.Muell.
- Oxylobium procumbens F.Muell. isonym
- Podolobium procumbens F.Muell. nom. inval., nom. nud.
}}
Podolobium procumbens, commonly known as trailing shaggy-pea, trailing podolobium or trailing oxylobium,{{cite book |title=Wild Plants of Victoria (database)|year=2009 |publisher=Viridans Biological Databases & Department of Sustainability and Environment}} is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a trailing small shrub with oval-shaped leaves and orange pea-like flowers.
Description
Podolobium procumbens is a low, spreading shrub to {{cvt|0.3|m}} tall with smooth stems and forms a lignotuber. The leaves may be arranged opposite or in whorls, oval-shaped, {{cvt|1-2.5|cm}} long, {{cvt|6-18|mm}} wide, upper surface smooth, wavy, shiny and veined, lower surface with occasional hairs, pointed at the apex on a petiole {{cvt|3|mm}} long. The inflorescence are in small clusters at the end of branches or in leaf axils on a silky pedicel {{cvt|4-10|mm}} long. The bracteoles are narrow lance-shaped, the calyx {{cvt|6-9|mm}} long with flattened, soft, short hairs. The corolla {{cvt|10-14|mm}} long, orange with red markings, the standard petal almost orb-shaped, orange with a red centre, the wings orange, and the keel is reddish. Flowering occurs from November to January and the fruit is an oblong pod, {{cvt|10-15|mm}} long, either straight or curved, and covered with long, straight, soft hairs.{{cite web |title=Podolobium procumbens |url=https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/375de873-5bfa-415d-94cc-a8a0f9a3fd1f |website=VICFLORA-Flora of Victoria |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria |access-date=15 August 2021}}
Taxonomy and naming
Trailing shaggy-pea was first formally described in 1855 by botanist Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Oxylobium procumbens in Definitions of rare or hitherto undescribed Australian plants.{{cite web |title=Oxylobium procumbens |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/540654 |publisher=Australian Plant Name Index |access-date=17 August 2021}}{{cite book |last1=von Mueller |first1=Ferdinand |title=Definitions of rare or hitherto undescribed Australian plants |date=1855 |publisher=Goodhugh & Trembath |location=Melbourne |page=4 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044106365950&view=1up&seq=10&skin=2021 |access-date=17 August 2021}} In 1995 Michael Crisp and Peter Henry Weston changed the name to Podolobium procumbens and the change was published in Advances in Legume Systematics.{{cite web |title=Podolobium procumbens |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/557242 |publisher=Australian Plant Name Index |access-date=17 August 2021}} The specific epithet (procumbens) means "procumbent".{{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=283 |edition=3rd}}
Ferdinand von Mueller had previously published the name Podolobium procumbens in a report to the Victorian Government in 1853, but the name was not validly published because it was a nomen nudum, that is, there was no Latin description.{{cite web |title=Podolobium procumbens |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/516867 |publisher=Australian Plant Name Index |access-date=17 August 2021}}{{cite journal |last1=von Mueller |first1=Ferdinand |title=First general report of the Government Botanist on the vegetation of the colony |journal=Victoria - Parliamentary Papers- Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly |date=20 October 1853 |page=12 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/217318#page/12/mode/1up |access-date=17 August 2021}}
Distribution and habitat
Trailing shaggy-pea occurs in sclerophyll forests and woodland in Victoria and south-eastern New South Wales.{{cite web |url=http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Podolobium~procumbens |title=Podolobium procumbens|accessdate=2 December 2012|author=|work= PlantNET - New South Wales Flora Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust, Sydney Australia}}