Description
Bossiaea tasmanica is a prostrate shrub growing to about 0.3 m high. Its branching is dense and the branchlets are spiny. The keel is greenish-yellow sometimes which sometimes has a pinkish tinge. Both the calyx and the pods are hairy. It flowers in November and December.[2]It is closely related to B. obcordata, but differs from it in being more prostrate, in having branchlets which are more wax-encrusted, in having blunter spines, narrower leaves and in having a hairy calyx and hairy pods.[2]
Distribution
It is the only Bossiaea that is endemic to Tasmania and is found in the east of the island.[2]
Etymology
The epithet,rigida, was not able to be used since the name Bossiaea rigida Turcz. had been published. The epithet chosen reflects the fact that this Bossiaea is the only endemic
species of Bossiaea in Tasmania.[2]
Taxonomy
The species was first described as Bossiaea cinerea var. rigida in 1903 by Leonard Rodway.[11][12] In 2012, Ian Thompson revised the genus, Bossiaea, and raised the taxon to a species, naming it, Bossiaea tasmanica.[1][2]
References
1. ^1 2 3 {{APNI2 | name = Bossiaea tasmanica | id = 240240|accessdate=22 March 2019}}
2. ^1 {{APNI2 | name = Bossiaea cinerea var. rigida | id = 62257|accessdate=22 March 2019}}
3. ^1 Govaerts, R. et. al. (2019) Plants of the world online: Bossiaea tasmanica. Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
4. ^1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Thompson, I.R. (2012) [https://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/documents/Muelleria_30%282%29%2C_Thompson_Low_Res.pdf A revision of eastern Australian Bossiaea (Fabaceae: Bossiaeae).] Muelleria 30(2): 106-174 (pp.157-158)
5. ^1 Rodway, L. (1903), The Tasmanian Flora: 36.