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Kneed Swainsona

Swainsona oroboides

Also called Variable Swainsona

Kneed Swainsona
Photo: John Wrigley, CC BY 3.0

Kneed swainsona is a low, spreading perennial pea from the arid and semi-arid interior of Australia, with purple flower racemes. It is a wild species of open plains and woodland rather than a common garden plant, so cultivation advice is limited.

Family
Fabaceae (Pea & bean family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Water sparingly, letting the soil dry out between waterings, as it is adapted to dry inland conditions.
Soil
Free-draining sandy or loamy soil; poor drainage is likely to cause root rot.
Temperature
Tolerates hot summers and cool winters typical of inland Australia; frost tolerance not well documented.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
Australia
Climate
desert or dry shrubland

About

Swainsona oroboides, commonly known as variable swainsona or kneed Darling pea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is a prostrate or ascending perennial plant with imparipinnate leaves with 3 to 7 narrowly elliptic leaflets and racemes of 3 to about 16 purple flowers.

Where it grows

This species of swainsona is widespread in inland areas of Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales and southern parts of the Northern Territory and Queensland, where it usually grows on open plains and eucalypt or mulga woodland.

Other Swainsona plants

Swainsona acuticarinata · Swainsona adenophylla · Swainsona affinis · Swainsona beasleyana · Southern Swainson Pea · Slender Swainson Pea · Swainsona bracteata · Swainsona burkei · Woolly Darling Pea · Swainsona cadellii · Swainsona calcicola · Swainsona campestris

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Swainsona oroboides by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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