Bossiaea is a genus of about 78 species of flowering plants in the pea family Fabaceae and is endemic to Australia. Plants in this genus often have stems and branches modified as cladodes, simple, often much reduced leaves, flowers with the upper two sepal lobes larger than the lower three, usually orange to yellow petals with reddish markings, and the fruit a more or less flattened pod.
Plants in the genus Bossiaea are shrubs, often with the stems and branches modified as cladodes, the leaves simple and often reduces to scales, usually with small stipules at the base. The flowers are usually arranged singly in leaf axils, usually with two or three small bracts or bracteoles at the base of the peduncle. There are five sepals, the upper two usually larger and united higher than the lower three. The petals are mostly orange to yellow, often with darker markings and the standard is about twice as long as the sepals. The stamens are united into a sheath that is split on the upper side and the fruit is a flattened pod containing seeds with an aril.[2][3][4][5][6]
The genus Bossiaea was first formally described in 1800 by Étienne Pierre Ventenat in his book, Description des Plantes Nouvelles et peu connues, cultivées dans le Jardin de J.M. Cels and the first species he described was Bossiaea heterophylla.[7][8] The genus is named in honour of Joseph Hugues Boissieu La Martinière, a botanist on La Pérouse's expedition to Australia.[9]
The following is a list of species of Bossiaea accepted by the Australian Plant Census as at July 2021:[10]
Species of Bossiaea occur in all Australian states and mainland territories, including seven in Tasmania and one (Bossiaea bossiaeoides in the Northern Territory.[4][11][12]
Media related to Bossiaea at Wikimedia Commons
Bossiaea is a genus of about 78 species of flowering plants in the pea family Fabaceae and is endemic to Australia. Plants in this genus often have stems and branches modified as cladodes, simple, often much reduced leaves, flowers with the upper two sepal lobes larger than the lower three, usually orange to yellow petals with reddish markings, and the fruit a more or less flattened pod.
