Alice Springs Desert Park

ASDP Home | Fauna | Flora | Nature Theatre | Nocturnal House

Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa) is named after explorer Captain Charles Sturt, who noted the occurrence of  in 1844 while exploring between Adelaide and Central Australia.

It is a perennial plant with an almost silky grey-green pinnate foliage which grows prostrate spreading across the ground, and has erect flower clusters.

There are two recognised forms – the Inland Form with a black boss, and the Northern Form, with a pale red boss. Other naturally occurring hybridisation within the species have given rise to plants with a pure white, pale pink, apricot and bicolours flower, with or without the black boss. Check out the flora images of the white Sturt’s Desert Pea.

Sturt’s Desert Pea can be found growing naturally in all mainland states except Victoria and the southern part of the Northern Territory. It is found growing in red-brown sandy or loamy soils on open plains, mulga shrubland and the desert regions of Central Australia. It is mainly found in areas where there is no livestock grazing as the plant is eaten by cattle.

Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa)
Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa)
Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa)
Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa)
Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa) growing with Schenkia australis
Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa) growing with Schoenia cassiniana
Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa) growing with Schenkia australis
Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa) growing with Schoenia cassiniana
Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa) growing with Schenkia australis
Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa) growing with Schoenia cassiniana
The Northern form of the Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa), Alice Springs Desert Park
  • Scientific Classification
  • Kingdom: Plantae
  • Division: Magnoliophyta
  • Class: Magnoliopsida
  • Order: Fabales
  • Family: Fabaceae
  • Subfamily: Faboideae
  • Tribe: Galegeae
  • Genus: Swainsona
  • Species: S. formosa
  • Binomial name: Swainsona formosa
Sturt's Desert Pea, Alice Springs Desert Park
Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa)
Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa), Alice Springs Desert Park

ASDP Quick Link: Home | Fauna | Flora | Nature Theatre | Nocturnal House

ASDP FloraASDP Flora Index Batswing Coral Tree Blue Mallee Bush Banana Buttercup Pigweed Dead Finish Desert Grevillea Desert Oak Desert Raisin Field Lily Georges Indigo Golden Everlasting Honey Grevillea Kangaroo Grass Lamarchea sulcata Myoporum acuminatum (Boobialla) Native Apricot Native Bluebell Native Cotton Bush Native Tomato Nicotiana megalosiphon subsp sessilifolia Olearia ferresii Parrot Pea Pink Everlasting Poached Egg Daisy Potato Vine Quandong Rattlepod Grevillea Red-bud Mallee Red Mulga Resurrection Fern Rough Halgania Sandover Lily Silkyheads Small Yellow Button (Chrysocephalum apiculatum) Spearwood Bush Sturt’s Desert Pea Waddy-wood Walukara Weeping Spinifex White Spider Flower Wild Passionfruit Witchetty Bush Wildflower Display