Swaisona formosa Sturt's Desert Pea Endemic
This species grows dotted here and there in the desert interior of western Australia but is most famously known in good numbers and sometimes huge patches, from the Pilbara. We were nowhere near the Pilbara at the time but had ventured as far north as Shark Bay which is a long way south of places recorded with native Swainsona formosa.
This rather poor specimen was found on a scrubby bank at the side of the main road through Northampton and was probably hanging on from a previous time when the bank had been cultivated with native wild flowers by locals. Or might it just be an outlier ? We don't know.
It is one of the iconic wild flowers of western Australia and along with the Wreath Flower (Lechenaultia macrantha) is one which everyone with an interest in natural history wants to see.
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| Swaisona formosa Sturt's Desert Pea |
Scrub in Northampton, Western Asutralia 5th September 2012
Added on 24th December 2019