Bossiaea walkeri
F.Muell. Cactus BossiaeaRigid, much-branched shrub to 2 m high, virtually glabrous; branches flattened and winged, ultimate branches of cladodes 3–8 mm wide, often with a white waxy surface that exfoliates when the branches dry. Leaves reduced to scales c. 2 mm long, occasionally with few ± rotund or elliptic-oblong leaves to 15 mm long on basal or juvenile growth. Flowers solitary, 20–25 mm long; pedicels to 5 mm long; bracts several, reddish, closely distichous; bracteoles to 3.5 mm long, soon deciduous; calyx c. 10 mm long, glabrous, corolla red; standard much shorter than other petals; keel and wings c. 20 mm long; ovary shortly stipitate, glabrous apart from hairs on the margins, c. 20-ovuled. Pod oblong, 2.5–6 cm long; stipe c. equal to calyx. Flowers late Jul.–Oct.
LoM, MuM, VVP, RobP, MuF, GGr. Also WA, SA, NSW. Rare in Victoria, confined to the north-west, occurring mainly in deep sand near the Murray River and in Wyperfeld National Park, usually in mallee communities.
Readily distinguished from all of the other leafless Bossiaea species in Victoria by the large red flowers.
Ross, J.H. (1996). Bossiaea. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 808–815. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
