Holly-leaved hovea

Appearance

''Hovea chorizemifolia'' is an erect, slender and prickly shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.1 to 0.6 metres , and needle-shaped, hairy stems. The leaves are arranged alternately, flat, hairy, 20–80 mm long and 4.5–5.5 mm wide on a pedicel 4.5–6.5 mm long. The calyx is 6–7.2 mm long with simple hairs. The purple-blue corolla is 12.5–18.5 mm long, with purple or blue markings. The standard petal is 10–17.5 mm long and smooth, wings are 9.5–15 mm long, and the keel 7–7.5 mm long and smooth. Flowering occurs from May to October and the fruit is a round pod.

Naming

''Hovea chorizemifolia'' was first formally described by the botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, in 1825 in his ''Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis''. The classification of the species has been revised many times including by Robert Sweet in 1827 as ''Plagiolobium chorizemifolium'' in ''Flora Australasica'' and as ''Hovea chorozemaefolia'' by John Lindley in 1832 in ''Edwards's Botanical Register''. The specific epithet , derives from ''Chorizema'' and the latin, ''folium'', meaning leaf and thus means ''leaves resembling those of Chorizema''.

Distribution

It occurs on hills, breakaways and granite outcrops in the South West, Peel and Great Southern regions of Western Australia where it grows in sandy and gravelly lateritic soils and often as part of jarrah forest communities.