Daviesia arenaria

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Sandhill bitter-pea (Daviesia arenaria)

Daviesia arenaria, commonly known as sandhill bitter-pea, is a flowering plant in the pea family that grows in south-eastern Australia. It is usually a mound-shaped shrub up to about 1.5 metres tall and 2.5 metres wide, with many short, spiny branchlets. Its tiny leaves are reduced to heart-shaped or elliptic phyllodes with a sharp tip.

The flowers are distinctive: orange-pink with maroon and yellow markings. They appear one or two at a time in the leaf axils, each on a short stalk. The petals have orange-pink fronts, maroon backs, and a greenish-yellow line, with the wings and keel about 6–7 mm long. The plant mainly flowers from August to November. After flowering, it forms a small flattened triangular pod about 6–7 mm long.

Daviesia arenaria was first formally described in 1980 by Michael Crisp from specimens collected near Euston, New South Wales, in 1979. The name arenaria means "growing in sand."

This species grows mainly in mallee habitats and is found in south-western New South Wales, western Victoria, and southeastern South Australia.