Bendigo Field Nats

Red Swainson-pea

The vulnerable Red Swainson-pea is a small, prostrate to decumbent perennial herb to 30 cm tall. Its leaves are 5-10 cm long, each composed of 17 - 23 leaflets up to 17 mm in length. Leaflets are sparsely hairy below and usually entirely hairless above. The flowers are bright red, eventually fading to violet, 10-15 mm long and with a characteristically sideways twisted keel. Flowering usually begins in September and finishes by the end of October, with minor geographic and seasonal variation.

Red Swainson-pea is restricted to a few sites in north-central Victoria (mostly between Bendigo and the Murray River) where it grows in grassland on heavy red soils and is mainly confined to roadside remnants (Walsh & Entwisle 1996). The species is currently under threat from land clearance, habitat fragmentation, predation from the introduced red-legged earth mite and over grazing.

Current programs being implemented by DSE and NCCMA aim to reverse the decline of this species through a range of conservation actions outlined in the Red Swainson-pea National Recovery Plan.

Swainsona plagiotropis

Taxonomic description

Perennial herb to 30 cm tall
Leaves are 5-10 cm long
Leaves composed of 17 - 23 leaflets up to 17 mm
Flowers are bright red fading to violet
Flowers are 10-15 mm long
Flowers have a characteristically
sideways twisted keel

Examples of Bendigo's Threatened Flora

Audas's Spider Orchid
Ausfelds Wattle
Bald Tip Beard Orchid
Cane Spear-grass
Dainty Phebalium
Erect Peppercress
Goldfields Grevillea
Kamarooka Mallee
Large Greenhood
Red Swainson-pea
Whipstick Westringia
Whirrakee Wattle

Bendigo