Autumn-flowering pea

Bossiaea heterophylla, the variable bossiaea or autumn-flowering pea, is a slender, erect to ascending shrub of the Fabaceae endemic to eastern Australia, from coastal Queensland through New South Wales to Victoria. It grows 0.5–2 m tall with wiry, flattened, often almost leafless green stems that perform much of the photosynthesis. Leaves, when present, are alternate, variable—linear, narrow-elliptic to obovate, 5–25 mm long—glabrous, with entire margins and a small mucronate tip; on older plants they are often reduced and ephemeral. Flowers are typical pea-shaped, 10–15 mm long, borne singly on short axillary pedicels; the standard is bright yellow with a brown-red base, the wings yellow, and the keel deep red-brown. Calyx lobes are unequal, the upper two broad and lip-like. Pods are flat, oblong, glabrous, 2–4 cm long with 2–6 seeds. Flowering occurs mainly in autumn, March–June, contrasting with most spring-flowering peas. Habitat is dry sclerophyll forest on sandstone.