Hop bitter-pea

Daviesia latifolia, commonly known as hop bitter-pea, is an erect shrub in the Fabaceae family, endemic to south-eastern Australia. It typically grows 1 to 3 metres tall with a sparse, open habit. The leaves are phyllodes — broad, leathery, ovate to elliptic blades 4 to 10 cm long with prominent reticulate venation and a slightly puckered surface. The yellow and reddish-brown pea flowers are arranged in axillary racemes, each flower with the typical standard, wing and keel petals of the legume family; the standard is yellow with red or brown markings. Flowering occurs in spring, generally from September to November. Fruits are small, triangular legume pods, characteristically flattened and beaked, containing one or two seeds. The species occurs in dry sclerophyll forest and woodland on a range of soils. Indigenous people are recorded as having used the bitter leaves as a hop-like flavouring or steeped beverage.