''Austrocallerya australis'', commonly known as native wisteria, blunt wisteria or Samson's sinew in Australia, is a species of flowering plant in the family

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

, native to north-eastern Australia,

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

and some

Pacific Islands The Pacific islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of several ...

. It is a tall, woody climber with

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and ...

leaves, the leaflets oblong, elliptic or egg-shaped, and

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

s of purple, pea-like flowers.

Description

''Austrocallerya australis'' is a tall, woody climber with stems up to in diameter with rough, grey or cream-coloured bark. The leaves are pinnate with 5 to 19 oblong, elliptic or egg-shaped leaflets, long and wide. There is a silky-hairy, thread-like or triangular

stipel TIM S.p.A. (formerly Telecom Italia S.p.A.) is an Italian telecommunications company with headquarters in Rome, Milan, and Naples (with the Telecom Italia Tower (Naples), Telecom Italia Tower), which provides fixed telephony, fixed, Public telep ...

long at the base of each leaflet, but that sometimes falls as the leaf matures. The

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

is long with egg-shaped or narrowly triangular

stipule In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole (botany), petiole). They are primarily found among dicots and rare among monocots. Stipules are considered part ...

s at the base, and the stalk of each leaflet is long. The flowers are arranged in panicles long, each flower on a

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 ...

long with narrowly triangular, thread-like or egg-shaped

bract 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 lo ...

s at the base, but that fall as the flowers open. The

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s are yellowish, long and wide. The

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object ...

petal is more or less round, long, wide and mauve, purple or whitish, the

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 and purple or maroon, and the

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 ...

is long and purple or maroon. Flowering occurs in winter and spring and the fruit is an oblong, woody

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, ...

pod long.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1833 by

Stephan Endlicher Stephan Friedrich Ladislaus Endlicher, also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804 – 28 March 1849), was an Austrian Empire, Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna. Biog ...

who gave it the name ''Pterocarpus australis'' in his book ''Prodromus Florae Norfolkicae'' from specimens collected on

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...

Ferdinand Bauer Ferdinand Lucas Bauer (20 January 1760 – 17 March 1826) was an Austrian botanical illustrator who travelled on Matthew Flinders' expedition to Australia. Biography Early life and career Bauer was born in Feldsberg in 1760, the youngest son ...

. In 1994, Anne M. Schot moved the species to ''

Callerya ''Callerya'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae, tribe Wisterieae. It includes 12 species native to the eastern Himalayas, Indochina, southern China and Taiwan, and Peninsular Mala ...

'' as ''Callerya australis'' in the journal ''

Blumea ''Blumea'' is a genus of flowering plants of the family Asteraceae. Characteristics Genus ''Blumea'' is found in the tropical and sub-tropical zones of Asia, especially the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. A few species are found in Aust ...

'' and in 2019, James A. Compton and Brian David Schrire moved it to their new genus ''

Austrocallerya ''Austrocallerya'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the subfamily Faboideae in the family Fabaceae. They are robust, twining woody vines. Its native range is from New Guinea to eastern Australia and islands in the South Seas, Southern ...

'' as ''Austrocallerya australis'', based on the plant's morphology, and nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequences. 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 ...

(''australis'') means "southern".

Distribution and habitat

This species grows in rainforest from sea level to an altitude of in

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its Tropical North Queensland, trop ...

, in New South Wales as far south as

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie, sometimes shortened to Port Mac and commonly locally nicknamed Port, is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane, on the Tasman Sea coast at the mouth of the ...

, and on Norfolk Island. According to

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

, it also occurs in New Guinea,

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

, and the

Cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (profession), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * C ...

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

Tuamotus The Tuamotu Archipelago or the Tuamotu Islands (, officially ) are a French Polynesian chain of just under 80 islands and atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean. They constitute the largest chain of atolls in the world, extending (from northwest to ...

and

Tubuai Islands The Austral Islands ( officially ''Archipel des Australes;'' ) are the southernmost group of islands in French Polynesia, an overseas country of the French Republic in the South Pacific. Geographically, they consist of two separate archipelagos ...

Conservation status

''Austrocallerya australis'' is listed as "least concern" under the Queensland Government ''

Nature Conservation Act 1992 The ''Nature Conservation Act 1992'' is an act of the Parliament of Queensland, Australia, that, together with subordinate legislation, provides for the legislative protection of Queensland's threatened biota. As originally published, it prov ...

''.

References

{{taxonbar, from1=Q93952985, from2=Q15487886, from3=Q50844112, from4=Q39151956, from5=Q39125550, from6=Q17445957, from7=Q15527881, from8=Q65951451 Wisterieae Flora of the Cook Islands Flora of New Caledonia Flora of New Guinea Flora of New South Wales Flora of Norfolk Island Flora of Queensland Flora of the Solomon Islands (archipelago) Flora of the Tuamotus Flora of the Tubuai Islands Plants described in 1833