Pultenaea flexilis

An erect shrub, to 4 metres high, sometimes with sparsely hairy stems.

It grows in two somewhat disjunct areas in NSW, as far south as Deua National park, west of Moruya, extending north along the coast where it is found commonly north of Durras North, with scattered records from west of Milton to the Kangaroo River. It then appears again at Hill Top and extending north through the Greater Sydney Basin and Hunter Valley areas. It is then found disjunctly in high concentrations north and west of Coffs Harbour, extending into Queensland along the coast and tablelands to around Kingaroy and Kenilworth.

It is typically found on well drained sandy soils, in dry sclerophyll woodlands and forests.

Pultenaea is a member of the “pea” family. This generally means that leaves are alternate with stipules (leaf-like appendages) at the base of the petioles. Pultenaea spp. however, can sometimes have opposite leaves or leaves in whorls of 3. One of the key features of Pultenaea is that the stipules are fused behind the axillary bud.

In this species, leaves are alternate, linear to narrow-obovate, to 20 mm long and 4 mm wide; with a pointy apex, mid- to blue-green.

Flowers are, of course, pea-shaped (a term sometimes used is papilionate), with 5 petals in a fixed arrangement; the main back petal is called the “standard”, two lateral petals called “wings” and two fused petals at the bottom called the “keel” (in which the anthers and one carpel tend to be hidden). Pultenaea spp. sometimes have bracts surrounding the inflorescences, and bracteoles attached to the calyx tube or just below on the pedicels (at different locations in different species). These bracteoles can also have accompanying stipules.

In this species, flowers are to 10 mm long, yellow, and arranged in clusters near the ends of branchlets. The standard is about 1 cm across with red markings; the wings and the keel are typically yellow.

The fruit of all peas is a pod. In this species, they are to 9 mm long and swollen.