''Chorizema diversifolium'' is a species of flowering plant in the family
and is
endemic to the
southwest of Western Australia. It is a twining or trailing shrub or climber with variably-shaped, egg-shaped to narrowly lance-shaped leaves and pink, orange and red flowers.
Description
''Chorizema diversifolium'' is a twining or trailing shrub or climber with weak, slender branches. Its leaves are variably-shaped, egg-shaped to narrowly lance shaped, long and
glabrous or softly-hairy on the lower surface. The flowers are arranged in loose
raceme
A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...
s, the
sepals silky-hairy, about long, the upper two lobes curved and joined for about half their length. The petals are pink, orange and red, the
standard petal half as long again as the sepals, the
keel about the same length as the sepals. Flowering occurs from August to December.
Taxonomy
''Chorizema diversifolium'' was first formally described in 1839 by
Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle in ''Rapport sur les plantes rares ou nouvelles qui ont fleuri dans le Jardin de Botanique de Genève'' from specimens provided by
M. Grenier, without him being able to describe where it came from.
The
specific epithet
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
(''diversifolium'') means "different-leaved", referring to the species' variable leaf forms.
Distribution and habitat
This flame pea grows on limestone or granite outcrops in the
Esperance Plains,
Jarrah Forest,
Swan Coastal Plain
The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...
and
Warren bioregions of south-western Western Australia.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15528650
diversifolium
Fabales of Australia
Flora of Western Australia
Plants described in 1836
Taxa named by Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle