Flowering stem. Australian Plant Image Index, photo: Murray Fagg, near Innaminka, SA

Flowering stem. Australian Plant Image Index, photo: Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, ACT

Common Name

Spreading Scurf-pea, Native Verbine

Family

Fabaceae

Notes

Perennial or biennial forb, prostrate, often erect when young. Leaves alternating along the stem. Leaves composed of 3 leaflets, each 1-4cm long, 7-20mm wide, flat, upper surface hairless or sparsely hairy, lower surface hairy with many minute glands, margins toothed and wavy. Flowers white, pink, blue, or purplish, pea-shaped, with five petals, two almost joined together. Flowers in oval to cylindrical racemes of 10-20+ flowers, the stalks arisng from the bases of the leaves. Endangered Vic. Threatened list Vic.

Description (as Psoralea eriantha) in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales page 408

PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Cullen~patens