Plants of
South Australia
Pultenaea dentata
Fabaceae
Clustered Bush-pea
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Regional Species Conservation Assessments per IBRA subregion.
Least concern
Near threatened
Rare
Vulnerable
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Critically endangered
Extinct
Data deficient
Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
Marla
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Oodnadatta
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Wudinna
Keith
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 2

Etymology

Pultenaea named after Richard Pulteney (1730 � 1801), an English physician, botanist and biographer of Carl Linnaeus. Dentata from the Latin 'dens' meaning tooth; referring to the tooth-like margin of the bracts.

Distribution and status

Found on Kangaroo Island, southern Mount Lofty Ranges and the lower South-east in South Australia, in damp heathland, in swamps and along streams. Also found in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Native. Rare in South Australia. Rare in Queensland. Common in the other states.
Herbarium regions: Southern Lofty, Kangaroo Island, South Eastern
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Kangaroo Island, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Lax, open, prostrate or procumbent shrub with branches to 80 cm long and finely ribbed and hairy stems. Leaves alternate, oblanceolate or elliptic, to 12 mm long and 2 mm wide, upper surface glabrous, paler than lower; lower surface glabrous or glabrescent, occasionally slightly wrinkled or scabrous. Inflorescence terminal clusters with dense bright-yellow with red stripes pea-flowers. Flowering between October and November. Fruits are sparsely hairy brown ovoid pod to 5 mm long. Seeds are yellow reniform seed to 2 mm long and 1.2 mm wide, with a cream aril. Seed embryo type is bent.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between November and January. Collect maturing pods, those that are brown or turning brown and contain hard seeds inside. Place the pods in a paper bag and leave to dry for one to two weeks. Then rub the pods with a rubber bung to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate the unwanted material. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place. This species has physical dormancy that needs to be overcome for the seed to germinate. The seed coat needs to be ruptured so that water can enter the seed before germination can occur. Methods to rupture the seed coat include scarification with sand paper or nicking the seed coat with a sharp blade or hot water treatment by immersion in boiling water.

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA2,400 (2.79 g)30+27-Nov-2014DJD3073
Southern Lofty
1-Jan-201685%-18°C
BGA570 (0.476 g)30+4-Jan-2022BKB30
Kangaroo Island
7-Jul-2022100%-18°C
BGA2,940 (3.220 g)25+3-Dec-2021BKB29
Kangaroo Island
7-Jul-2022100%-18°C
Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.
Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.
Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.
% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.
Germination table:
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