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Daviesia

Daviesia, commonly known as bitter peas, is a genus of about 130 species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, and is endemic to Australia. Plants in the genus Daviesia are shrubs or small trees with leaves modified as phyllodes or reduced to scales. The flowers are arranged singly or in groups, usually in leaf axils, the sepals joined at the base with five teeth, the petals usually yellowish with reddish markings and the fruit a pod.

Description

Plants in the genus Daviesia are shrubs or small trees with their leaves modified as phyllodes that are often sharply-pointed, or have leaves reduced to scales with the stems modified as cladodes. The flowers are usually arranged in leaf axils, either singly or in clusters or racemes with bracts sometimes present on the peduncles, pedicels or flowering stems. The sepals are joined at the base to form a bell-shaped tube with five teeth, the two upper teeth usually wider and the petals are usually yellowish with reddish markings, the standard petal more or less round with a notch at the top and often shorter than the wings and keel. The fruit is a more or less flattened pod containing one or two seeds, each with an aril on the end.

The roots of many Daviesia species have a mode of secondary thickening in which successive arch-like cambia arise outside the roots of the previous season, creating rope-like structures on the roots. Like other genera in their family, Daviesia species have nitrogen-fixing bacteria contained in root nodules.

Taxonomy

The genus Daviesia was first formally described in 1798 by James Edward Smith in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. The genus is named in honour of Hugh Davies, a Welsh botanist.

Distribution

Species of Daviesia are found in all states and mainland territories of Australia, but the majority occur in Western Australia.

Species list

The following is a list of Daviesia species accepted by the Australian Plant Census :

References