''Eutaxia cuneata'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a slender, upright shrub with red and orange pea-like flowers.

Description

''Eutaxia cuneata'' is an upright shrub densely branched or occasionally sparsely branched, high and wide with

glabrous Glabrousness () is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes, or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of a plant or animal, or be due to loss because of a physical condition, ...

, greyish brown to red brown stems. The leaves are arranged opposite,

decussate Decussation is used in biological contexts to describe a crossing (due to the shape of the Roman numeral for ten, an uppercase 'X' (), ). In Latin anatomical terms, the form is used, e.g. . Similarly, the anatomical term chiasma is named aft ...

, spreading, long, upper surface mid green, glabrous, lower surface smooth with a prominent mid-vein, grey-brown, cuneate, apex blunt or with a hard tip. The flowers are borne singly or in pairs in the leaf axils,

bracteoles In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also look ...

egg-shaped, reddish-brown, long, wide, smooth, margins and apex with occasional, spreading, straight hairs about long,

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

s straight, sometimes curved under, and long. The flowers are orange-yellow, standard petal is long and wide,

wings A wing is a type of fin that produces both lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-drag ratio, which compares the bene ...

long,

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...

long, orange-red, straight, oblong shaped, smooth and the apex pointed. Flowering occurs from July to October and the fruit is elliptic shaped, long, wide, outer surface with occasional, flattened hairs about long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eutaxia cuneata'' was first formally described in 1844 and the description was published in ''

Plantae Preissianae ''Plantae preissianae sive enumeratio plantarum quas in australasia occidentali et meridionali-occidentali annis 1838-1841 collegit Ludovicus Preiss'', more commonly known as ''Plantae preissianae'', is a book written by Johann Georg Christian Le ...

''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

(''cuneata'') means "wedge-shaped", usually refers to the leaves.

Distribution and habitat

This pea grows in heath, woodland in a variety of soils near the south coast of Western Australia from Cheyne Beach to Ravensthorpe.

References

cuneata Fabales of Australia Rosids of Western Australia Plants described in 1844 {{Faboideae-stub