{{Short description|Species of legume}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Speciesbox |name = Sword bossiaea |image = Bossiaea ensata new.jpg |image_caption = ''Bossiaea ensata'' at Cowan |genus = Bossiaea |species = ensata |authority = Sieber ex DC. |range_map=BossiaeaensataDistMap48.png |range_map_caption=Occurrence data from AVH }} [[File:BD n145 w1150 (37917693766).jpg|thumb|Illustration in Burnett's ''Plantæ utiliores''<ref name="Burnett">{{cite book |last1=Burnett |first1=Mary A. |title=Plantae utiliores |date=1842 |publisher=Whittaker & Co. |location=London |page=530 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53727838#page/146/mode/1up |access-date=23 July 2021}}</ref>]]
'''''Bossiaea ensata''''', commonly known as '''sword bossiaea''',<ref name="RBGV">{{cite web |last1=Ross |first1=James H. |title=''Bossiaea ensata'' |url=https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/9d90a5d7-3969-4c48-ba0e-a29961f28e79 |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria |access-date=23 July 2021}}</ref> is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is an erect or low-lying, glabrous shrub with flattened branches, flattened, winged cladodes, leaves mostly reduced to small scales, and orange-yellow and red flowers.
==Description== ''Bossiaea ensata'' is an erect to low-lying or sprawling, glabrous shrub that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|1–2|m}} and has flattened branches and flattened, winged cladodes {{cvt|2–10|mm}} wide. The leaves, when present, are reduced to triangular scales {{cvt|0.6–2|mm}} long. The flowers are {{cvt|6–10|mm}} long and arranged singly in leaf axils {{cvt|6–10|mm}} long on pedicels up to {{cvt|4|mm}} long with two bracts up to {{cvt|2|mm}} long at the base and bracteoles near the middle of the pedicels. The sepals are {{cvt|3–4|mm}} long and joined at the base forming a bell-shaped tube, the two upper lobes longer than the lower three lobes. The standard petal is yellow with a red base and with red streaks or blotches on the back. The wings are yellow, sometimes with a red tinge and the keel pale greenish yellow. Flowering occurs from September to October and the fruit is an oblong pod {{cvt|25–40|mm}} long.<ref name="RBGV" /><ref name="RBGS">{{cite web |title=''Bossiaea ensata'' |url=https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Bossiaea~ensata |publisher=Royal Botanic Garden Sydney |access-date=23 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="efloraSA">{{cite web |title=''Bossiaea ensata'' |url=http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/cgi-bin/speciesfacts_display.cgi?form=speciesfacts&name=Bossiaea_ensata |publisher=State Herbarium of South Australia |access-date=23 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="lucid">{{cite web |last1=Wood |first1=Betty |title=''Bossiaea ensata'' |url=https://apps.lucidcentral.org/plants_se_nsw/text/entities/bossiaea_ensata.htm |publisher=Lucid Keys |access-date=23 July 2021}}</ref><ref name=Viridans>{{cite book |title=Wild Plants of Victoria (database) |year=2009 |publisher=Viridans Biological Databases & Department of Sustainability and Environment}}</ref>
==Taxonomy== ''Bossiaea ensata'' was first formally described in 1825 by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in ''Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis'' from an unpublished description by Franz Sieber.<ref name=APNI>{{cite web|title=''Bossiaea ensata''|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/468142 |publisher=APNI|access-date=23 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="DC.">{{cite book |last1=de Candolle |first1=Augustin P. |title=Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis |volume=2|date=1825 |location=Paris |page=117 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/7151#page/123/mode/1up |access-date=23 July 2021}}</ref> The specific epithet (''ensata'') means "sword-shaped", referring to the flattened stems.<ref name="Sharr">{{cite book |last1=Sharr |first1=Francis Aubi |last2=George |first2=Alex |title=Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings |date=2019 |publisher=Four Gables Press |location=Kardinya, WA |isbn=9780958034180 |page=191 |edition=3rd}}</ref><ref name="anpsa">{{cite web |title=''Bossiaea ensata'' |url=http://www.anpsa.org.au/b-ens.html |publisher=Australian Native Plants Society (Australia) |access-date=23 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="Stearn">{{cite book |author=William T. Stearn |title=Botanical Latin. History, grammar, syntax, terminology and vocabulary |date=1992 |publisher=Timber Press |location=Portland, Oregon |edition=4th|page=406}}</ref>
==Distribution and habitat== Sword bossiaea usually grows in sandy heath and is found on the coast and nearby tablelands of south-east Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria as far west as Marlo. There is also a record from the south of South Australia.<ref name="RBGV" /><ref name="RBGS" /><ref name="efloraSA" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q4947580}}
ensata Category:Flora of New South Wales Category:Flora of Queensland Category:Flora of South Australia Category:Flora of Victoria (state) Category:Taxa named by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle Category:Plants described in 1825