SPECIES: Pultenaea trichophylla — Tufted Bush-pea
CLASSIFICATION: Endangered
It's so much bigger than just looking at each of these threatened species and how close they are to extinction. The Tufted Bush-pea is a great example of this and it's wider role in the ecosystem within which it extists. Endemic to Eyre Peninsula and now confined to just 20 subpopulations, Tufted Bush-pea is a small, slender shrub with small leaves and red and yellow pea flowers. It shares overlapping critical habitat with the Eyre Peninsula Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo and Common Brush-tail Possum. It also supports populations of Fat-leaved Wattle and Silver Daisy-bush, both of which are also threatened native flora species.
Remaining populations of Tufted Bush-pea are severely fragmented and much of their decline has been due to clearing of native vegetation. The species is also under threat from grazing by livestok, weed invasion and fire.
Photo: Landscape South Australia