Pultenaea aristata

Pultenaea aristata, the bearded bush-pea or prickly bush-pea, is an erect shrub of the legume family (Fabaceae) typically growing 0.4–1.0 m tall, with slender, much-branched stems. Leaves are small, alternate, linear to narrow-elliptic with sharp pungent tips and persistent membranous stipules typical of the genus. Between September and October the bush is studded with yellow and red pea-flowers borne towards the ends of the branchlets, the standard usually bright yellow with red markings and the keel often reddish, followed by small ovate pods enclosed in the persistent calyx. The species is endemic to New South Wales, where it grows in heath and dry sclerophyll woodland on sandstone-derived soils from the southern suburbs of Sydney south to Mount Keira near Wollongong, often forming part of the understorey beneath Eucalyptus canopy. It is listed as a vulnerable species in parts of its restricted range.