About Sphaerolobium minus Labill.
Sphaerolobium minus Labill. is an erect, rush-like shrub that typically grows up to around 50 centimeters (20 inches) in height, and has hairless branchlets. This plant is mostly leafless; when leaves do grow, they are scattered, linear to lance-shaped, and about 5 millimeters (0.20 inches) long. Its flowers grow in small clusters along the branches, on a stalk (peduncle) around 0.5 millimeters (0.020 inches) long. Each individual flower sits on a stem (pedicel) 1 to 3 millimeters (0.039 to 0.118 inches) long, and has egg-shaped bracts, plus small bracteoles at the base of the sepals. The sepals are dark grey, 3 to 4 millimeters (0.12 to 0.16 inches) long, joined at the base, and have overlapping lobes. The two upper sepals form a wedge-shaped "lip". The standard petal is broadly egg-shaped with a notched tip, 5 to 6 millimeters (0.20 to 0.24 inches) long, yellow with reddish markings. The wing petals and keel petals are roughly the same length as each other. Flowering takes place from September to December, and the fruit is an inflated, spherical pod 3 to 5 millimeters (0.12 to 0.20 inches) in diameter. Commonly called globe-pea, this plant usually grows in wet heath, and sometimes grows in forest understorey. It has a wide distribution along the coast and nearby ranges of south-east Queensland, eastern New South Wales, higher rainfall areas of southern Victoria, west to the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, and south to Tasmania.
