Pultenaea retusa

An erect shrub, potentially to 2 metres tall with a narrow spread; with young stems hairy.

It has a mostly coastal distribution in NSW, with some disjunctions: growing from south of Lismore to Nambucca Heads; then from south of Wauchope towards Taree; then from Forster through Newcastle and Sydney, as far west as Wollemi National Park, Katoomba and Mount Wilson, to the southern highlands and Dapto-area; then appearing again mostly between Nelligen and Tuross Head-area. It extends into Queensland, with scattered records along the coast and coastal inland, to west of Townsville. It grows in Victoria, mainly from the eastern corner to the central south of the state.

It grows in dry to wet sclerophyll forest as well as swampy sites, on a variety of soils, sandy to clay.

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, the leaves are alternate, cuneate to obovate, with the narrower end towards the base, to 15 mm long, and to 5 mm wide, often with a notch at the tip, mid green to dark green in colour, with stipules about 1 mm long.

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, the flowers are to 7 mm long, arranged in dense clusters at the branch terminals, yellow-orange in colour, with the standard petal yellow to orange with red markings, and to 6 mm wide; the wings are yellow to orange and the keel red to purple; occurring from September to November.

The fruit of all peas is a pod. In this species, it is flattened, to 7 mm long.