Daviesia squarrosa

A slender, and often small shrub, growing potentially to 1.5 metres with a spread to a metre or more, often with several arching stems.

It is endemic to NSW, growing mainly on the coast and coastal ranges only, from around Newcastle and Broke, to around Tuross Head and as far west as the Megalong Valley and just west of Nerriga. There are massively disjunct records in Queensland. However, these are likely to now be D. villifera.

It is typically found in dry sclerophyll woodland and forest, usually on sandy-skeletal soils but also rocky soils with some clay content.

Daviesia spp. have simple leaves modified to phyllodes or rigid scales, arranged alternately. In this species, they are crowded along stems, cordate to ovate, to 12 mm long and to 10 mm wide with a long, tapering tip (in this Editor’s mind – somewhat resembling “spades” in a deck of playing cards and strongly resembling leaves of species such as Epacris longiflora); with rough (hispid) hairs on the margins and midribs, slightly to moderately prickly, green to blue-green in colourand with a prominent mid-rib and on a very short petiole.

Daviesia spp. have pea-flowers (papilionate) which are 5-merous but with the typical pea setup where there is one large rear petal called the “standard”, two fused bottom petals called the “keel” and two lateral petals called “wings”. In this species, yellow flowers with red markings are produced singly or in pairs in the leaf axils on pedicels to 12 mm long; occurring from July to October.

Flowers are followed by distinctive triangular pods in Daviesia spp. In this speciesthe pod is flattened, to 9 mm long and to 5.5 mm long, typically brown when ripe.