Pultenaea polifolia

A shrub to 1.5 metres tall (usually smaller and can also grow prostrate), that has hairy stems.

It has a large occurrence in NSW, growing from the Northern Tablelands, between Dorrigo and Armidale (with a few records further north), then with some records near Taree and further west, then commonly in the Sydney to Orange latitude, spreading south to around Durras on the coast, but through the ACT to Albury.
It is common in north-eastern Victoria.

It generally grows in heath as well as wet sclerophyll forests, in swampy to drier sites.

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 and variable, linear or elliptic to obovate, with the narrower end towards the base, to 35 mm long, and to 6 mm wide, with the upper surface mostly glabrous and the lower surface hairy; with stipules to 5 mm long at the base and pressed against the stem.

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, arranged in terminal clusters, with overlapping, three-lobed bracts to 8 mm long at the base. Flowers are yellow-orange, with the standard petal yellow to red, to 7 mm wide; the wings are yellow to orange and the keel is red to purple; occurring from October to November.

The fruit of all peas is a pod. In this species, it is flattened, to 10 mm long.