Bossiaea sp.

1 Kambah, ACT

Bossiaea sp. at Kambah, ACT - 11 Oct 2017 11:21 AM
Bossiaea sp. at Kambah, ACT - 11 Oct 2017 11:21 AM
Bossiaea sp. at Kambah, ACT - 11 Oct 2017 11:21 AM
Bossiaea sp. at Kambah, ACT - 11 Oct 2017 11:21 AM
Bossiaea sp. at Kambah, ACT - 11 Oct 2017 11:21 AM
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Identification history

Bossiaea sp. 27 Oct 2017 BettyDonWood
Bossiaea buxifolia 9 Oct 2017 RosemaryRoth

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5 comments

BettyDonWood wrote:
   10 Oct 2017
I need a photo of the back of the flower to be sure. The upright ('hat'') petal in Bossiaea buxifolia flowers is dark brown, and in B. protrata is pinky red to pinky brown. I get the impression of a joint between the leaf and the leaf stalk, whih prostrata has, and buxifolia not.
RosemaryRoth wrote:
   12 Oct 2017
I have added a couple more photos. Though there is a bit of colour variation the backs of the petals do seem to be a pinky brown rather than a dark brown and are more pink towards the bottom of the petal.
   27 Oct 2017
Hi Betty
This looks like Bossiaea buxifolia to me, which grows at Tuggeranong Hill, Rob Roy and Pine Island and which I've done a drawing of. The small leaves arranged close together in neat rows are very convincing. B. protrata has larger leaves that are much more widely spaced. I am just looking at my Flora of NSW book which makes this difference very clear.
BettyDonWood wrote:
   27 Oct 2017
The critical difference between these two species is that prostrata has compound leaves with a single leaflet, which means that there is a joint between the base of the leaf and its stalk. Very hard to pick up in a photo. Buxifolia has ordinary leaves with no joint at that point. According to Flora of the ACT, the colour of the back of the standard petal is a reliable character also. Pinky red to pinky brown in prostrata, dark brown in buxifolia.
   27 Oct 2017
Just looking at the photos we have of both Bossiaea buxifolia and B prostrata, this sighting looks quite different in many ways to the others we have of B prostrata. On the other hand it looks very similar to B buxifolia.

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Location information

Sighting information

Additional information

  • True In flower
  • 10cm to 30cm Plant height

Species information

  • Bossiaea sp. Scientific name
  • Common name
  • Not Sensitive
  • Local native
  • Non-invasive or negligible
  • Up to 1184.7m Recorded at altitude
  • Machine learning
  • In flower

Record quality

  • Images or audio
  • More than one media file
  • Verified by an expert moderator
  • Nearby sighting(s) of same species
  • GPS evidence of location
  • Description
  • Additional attributes
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