Swainsona galegifolia commonly known as smooth Darling pea or Darling pea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is a small shrub with greyish-green leaves and flowers in white, red, pink, purple, yellow or orange.

Description

Swainsona galegifolia is an upright, perennial subshrub to about 1 m high with smooth stems. The grey-green leaves are arranged opposite in pairs of 11-29 leaflets on a petiole, each leaflet is narrowly egg-shaped, 6-20 mm long, 2-5 mm wide, smooth, apex rounded, notched or occasionally with a small point.The pea-like flowers are borne in racemes of 15-20 white, pink, purple, yellow or orange flowers 12-15 mm long. The calyx is smooth, shorter than the floral tube. The standard petal is almost orb-shaped, clawed, up to 15 mm long, 15-20 mm wide, keel 10-15 mm long, apex rounded and slightly lipped. Flowering occurs in November and December, the fruit is an elliptic-shaped swollen pod, usually 2-40 mm long, 8-12 mm wide, smooth and the stipe often more than 10 mm long.

Taxonomy and naming

The species was first formally described in 1803 by Henry Cranke Andrews as Vicia galegifolia. In 1812 Robert Brown changed the name to Swainsona galegifolia and the change was published in Hortus Kewensis. The specific epithet (galegifolia) refers to the similarity to the northern hemisphere plant galega.

Distribution and habitat

Smooth Darling pea is a widespread species growing in several different habitats in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.