Plant Of The Week: Sturt's Desert Pea

Swainsona formosa or  Sturt's Desert Pea, is an Australian plant in the genus Swainsona, named after English botanist Isaac Swainson, famous for its distinctive blood-red leaf-like flowers, each with a bulbous black center, or "boss". It is one of Australia's best known wildflowers. It is native to the arid regions of central and north-western Australia, and its range extends into all mainland Australian states with the exception of Victoria.

Sturt's Desert Pea is a member of Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. It has pinnate, grey-green leaves which are arranged spirally on the main axis of the plant, and in two opposite rows (distichous) on lateral stems. Its flowers are so different from its relatives that it is almost unrecognizable as a member of the pea family. The flowers are about 3,5 inches in length and grow in clusters of around half a dozen on thick vertical stalks (peduncles), which spring up every 4 to 6 inches along the prostrate stems in a bright red, which may be up to 6 feet  in length. The sexual organs, enclosed by the keel, comprise 10 stamens, of which 9 are joined and 1 is free, and an ovary topped by a style upon which is located the stigma which receives pollen during fertilization.

The plant flowers from spring to summer, particularly after rain. There is a natural pure white form, as well as hybridized varieties which can have flowers ranging from blood scarlet, to pink and even pale cream, with variously colored central bosses. Several tricolor variants have been recorded, including the cultivars marginata (white keel with red margin, red flag and purple-black boss), tricolor (white keel, red flag, pink boss), and elegans (white flag and keel, both with red margins). Flowers are bird-pollinated in the wild.

The fruit is a legume, several inches long, and each yields 50 or more flat, kidney-shaped seeds at maturity

Most forms of the plant are low-growing or prostrate, however in the Pilbara region of north-western Australia varieties growing as tall as 6 feet have been observed.

Specimens of Sturt's desert pea were first collected by William Dampier who recorded his first sighting on 22 August 1699.[citation needed] These specimens are today in the Fielding-Druce Herbarium at Oxford University in England.

The taxonomy of Sturt's desert pea has been changed on a number of occasions. It was initially treated in the 18th century in the genus Clianthus as Clianthus dampieri, and later became more widely known as Clianthus formosus (formosus is Latin for "beautiful"). However it was later reclassified under the genus Swainsona as Swainsona formosa, the name by which it is officially known today.

A further reclassification to Willdampia formosa was proposed in the publication Western Australian Naturalist in 1999; however this proposal was rejected by the scientific community in 2000.

The common name honors Charles Sturt, who recorded seeing large quantities of the flowers while exploring central Australia in 1844; the second version of the scientific name honors the naturalist Isaac Swainson, and the third (rejected) version of the scientific name was intended to honor the explorer William Dampier.

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