Glycine clandestina
J.C.Wendl. Twining GlycineTwining herb; stems elongated, non-stoloniferous, retrorse-hirsute to glabrous. Leaves palmately trifoliolate, dimorphic, petiole 5–40 mm long; leaflets sessile to subsessile, those of upper leaves linear to oblong-lanceolate, 1–8 cm long, 2–10 mm wide, apices acute or obtuse; those of lower leaves oblanceolate to more or less orbicular, 0.5–3 cm long, 2–10 mm wide, apices usually obtuse; upper surface sparsely strigose to glabrous; lower surface more densely strigose; stipules oblong; lateral leaflets sometimes each subtended by a single stipel, central leaflet rarely with a pair of often-persistent stipels; leaflet reticulation obscure, with tertiary (and often secondary) veins usually indistinct. Racemes 4–18-flowered; peduncles mostly 2–6 cm long. Flowers on pedicels 1–2 mm long, usually arranged loosely and distally on rachis; bract lanceolate, 1–2 mm long; calyx 3–4 mm long, villous to glabrescent, lower 3 teeth shorter than, to as long as, tube; petals white, pale mauve, blue or purplish-pink; standard 5–10 mm long; keel 1–2 mm longer than wings. Pod linear to oblong, (2–)3–5 cm long, 2.5–4 mm wide, compressed, sparsely hairy to glabrous; seeds 4–12, ovoid to suborbicular, c. 1.5 mm long, smooth and shining or minutely muricate, olive-black to brownish-red. Flowers mostly Aug.–Feb.
LoM, MuM, Wim, GleP, VVP, VRiv, MuF, GipP, OtP, WaP, Gold, CVU, GGr, DunT, NIS, EGL, EGU, WPro, HSF, HNF, OtR, Strz, MonT, HFE, VAlp. Widespread across most of Victoria but less common in northern and western areas, growing in a wide variety of habitats.
A very variable species, particularly in terms of the indumentum, leaf size, shape and degree of dimorphism and flower size and colour. Var. sericea was erected by Bentham to include plants that are overall silky-pubescent or villous, have a rusty-villous calyx and very short pedicels. Later authors have used additional features such as narrower leaflets (Weber 1986) and longer pods (Elliot & Jones 1980-94) to further delineate this taxon. However, all these features are quite variable and it is not unusual to have a single plant displaying characteristics of both varieties. For this reason no varieties are recognized here.
A form with dense, pale indumentum, currently noted only from the Dunolly area, is unusual in having the central petiolule longer than the laterals and having a pair of stipels. This form appears consistent with Glycine clandestina 'Western Slopes' sensu Pfeil et al. (2001), and appears to share some morphological features with both G. canescens and G. microphylla.
Jeanes, J.A. (1996). Fabaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 663–829. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
SpinningPfeil, B.E.; Tindale, M.D.; Craven, L.A. (2001). A review of the Glycine clandestina species complex (Fabaceae: Phaseolae) reveals two new species. *Australian Systematic Botany * 14: 891–900.
