Swainsona bracteata

Swainsona bracteata is a perennial herb, that typically grows to a height about 1 m (3 ft 3 in) with hairy stems. Its leaves are imparipinnate, 5–10 mm (0.20–0.39 in) long with stipules 2–5 mm (0.079–0.197 in) long at the base. There are mostly 19 to 25 narrowly egg-shaped leaflets, the lower leaflets about 15 mm (0.59 in) and 5–17 mm (0.20–0.67 in) wide. The flowers are arranged in racemes 10–20 mm (0.39–0.79 in) long of about 20, each flower 10–20 mm (0.39–0.79 in) long. The sepals are softly-hairy and joined at the base, forming a tube with the sepal lobes about equal to the sepal tube. The petals are white, pale pink or pale purple. The fruit is an elliptic pod usually 40–50 mm (1.6–2.0 in) long with the remains of the style about 4 mm (0.16 in) long.[2]

This species was first formally described in 1904 by Joseph Maiden and Ernst Betche who gave it the name Swainsona greyana var. bracteata in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales.[3][4] In 1990, Joy Thompson raised the variety to species status as Swainsona bracteata in the journal Telopea.[5][6]

Swainsona bracteata grows in sandy soils in woodland and is widespread in the western slopes and plains of northern New South Wales, from near Condobolin to south-east Queensland.[2][6]