Peas


There are over 12,000 pea species across the globe including herbs, shrubs, climbers and trees. They are good colonisers of bare areas assisted by their ability to trap nitrogen from the air and increase soil fertility. Many of the native species are dispersed by ants and will flourish after fire.

The native herbs and smaller shrubs are vulnerable to live-stock grazing and mainly occur in areas where grazing has been excluded or intermittent, such as within some Travelling Stock Reserves.

Although relatively few in number woody introduced peas, such as brooms, Gorse or Tree Lucerne are significant weeds. Exotic woody peas are a poor planting choice, as they are likely to stray far beyond the garden path.

All flowers of this family have the “sweet pea” butterfly shape, comprised of five often brightly coloured petals: the large upright standard at the back, two small lateral wings and the lower keel of two petals that are mostly fused.

Pea plants are generally distinguished from each other by their form (herb, shrub etc), their leaf characteristics, the colour of their flowers and the size and shape of their seed pods. Ideally postings of pea plants will include photographs that encapsulate all these features.

Photographs should show whether leaves are a single blade, or if not the number of leaflets of which they are composed. Photographs should also try and capture the pair of stipules or appendages that may occur at the base of the leaf stem. They can be leaf-like, membranous or spine like.


Peas

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Discussion

Yesterday
Known location of this threatened shrub

Pultenaea platyphylla
22 Jun 2025
I have deleted the dodonea from this record - please add it seperately

Daviesia mimosoides
RWPurdie wrote:
22 Jun 2025
It's probably a Pultenaea, but the leaf shape is wrong for P. procumbens.

Pultenaea (genus)
RWPurdie wrote:
22 Jun 2025
It's definitely not Indigofera australis, as the plant in the photo has alternate leaves (cf Indigofera, which has compound leaves with opposite leaflets), but I'm not sure what it is - sorry!

Indigofera australis subsp. australis
RWPurdie wrote:
22 Jun 2025
Just note that the first two photos are of Daviesia mimosoides. The third photo (the close-up) is Dodonaea viscosa subsp. spatulata.

Daviesia mimosoides
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