Species profile—Swainsona fraseri
Classification
Plantae (plants) → Equisetopsida (land plants) → Leguminosae → Swainsona fraseri
Sighting data
Species details
- Kingdom
- Plantae (plants)
- Class
- Equisetopsida (land plants)
- Family
- Leguminosae
- Scientific name
- Swainsona fraseri Benth.
- WildNet taxon ID
- 10796
- Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NCA) status
- Least concern
- Conservation significant
- No
- Confidential
- No
- Endemicity
- Native
- Pest status
- Nil
- Description
- Swainsona fraseri is an erect shrub growing to about 2m tall. The stems are covered in sparse hairs. The leaves are 5-10cm long and consist of 21-27 leaflets. The stipules (bracts at the base of the leaf stalk) are 1.5 to 6 mm long.The leaflets are elliptic to oblong in shape and straight or slightly indented with a short point at the tip. Leaflets measure 7-18mm long, 2-7mm wide, are hairless above and sparsely hairy below.
Clusters (racemes) of 20 or more flowers are borne along a stalk up to 25cm long. The pea-like flowers are 10-15mm long and mauve, pink or purple in colour. The flowers are on stalks (pedicels) 3-7 mm long. The calyx (green part at the base of the flower) is 3-5 mm long, with teeth shorter than the tube. The dominant petal (standard) is 1-1.2 mm broad. The style tip is strongly incurved. Pods are inflated, elliptic, 30-40mm long and hairless.
The related Swainsona brachycarpa is distinguished by small stipules (1-2 mm long) the smaller flowers (to 1 cm long) and shorter flower stalks (1-2 mm long). (Stanley & Ross 1983; Thompson & James 2008). - Distribution
- Swainsona fraseri is found in south-eastern Queensland from Indooroopilly in Brisbane, north to the Kolan Shire, and as far west as Helidon and Cooyar. It is also known from the central north coast and the northern tablelands of New South Wales (Herbrecs 2008; Thompson & James 2008).
- Distributional limits
- -24.9150848, 151.6349888
-27.7179195, 153.5010596 - Range derivation
- Range derived from extent of the taxon's verified records
- Habitat
- Swainsona fraseri occurs in grassy pastures on loamy soils, tall open eucalypt forest in disturbed areas and along creek flats and riverbanks with eucalypts. It may also grow on loose rocky slopes. (Stanley & Ross 1983; Herbrecs 2008).
- Behaviour
- There is little information on the ecology of Swainsona fraseri. Legumes often require disturbance or fire for regeneration.
- Reproduction
- Swainsona fraseri flowers and fruits mainly between August and January (Herbrecs 2008).
- Notes
- Contributors: Ailsa Holland 11/10/2009; Danielle Hansen 16/10/2009
- References
- Herbrecs (2008). Swainsona fraseri, in BriMapper version 2.12. Queensland Herbarium label data. Accessed 15/10/2008.
Stanley, T.D. & Ross, E.M. (1983). Flora of south-eastern Queensland (volume 1). Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Brisbane.
Thompson, J. and James, T.A. (2008). Swainsona fraseri, in PlantNet - The Plant System Network of Botanic Gardens Trust, Sydney, Australia. Accessed 15/10/2008. http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Swainsona~fraseri - Profile author
- Danielle Hansen (16/10/2009)
Other resources
Data source
This profile data is sourced from the QLD Wildlife Data API using the Get species by ID function used under CC-By 4.0.
https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species/?op=getspeciesbyid&taxonid=10796.
This information is sourced from the WildNet database managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.
