Bossiaea eriocarpaCommon name: Common Brown Pea
Meaning of name: Bossiaea is named in honour of Joseph de Bossieu de la Martiniere (1754 – 1788), medical officer and botanist on Astrolabe, La Perouse’s voyage 1785 – 1788. Eriocarpa is from the Greek words erion, meaning wool, and carpos, meaning fruit.
Distribution: Occurs from Kalbarri to Albany.
Remarks: A shrub to 60 centimetres tall. The yellow and brown flowers are produced from July to October.
A species of wasp, Tanaostigmodes sp, lays its eggs in the tissue of Bossiaea eriocarpa. In response, the plant forms a gall around the foreign body – the egg. The young wasp feeds on the plant tissue inside the gall. It pupates in the gall and emerges as a fully formed adult wasp.
Associations: Tanaostigmodes sp
References: Western Australian Plant Names and their Meanings, a Glossary. FA Sharr. 1996.
Flora of the Perth Region. NG Marchant, JR Wheeler, BL Rye, EM Bennett, NS Lander, TD Macfarlane. 1987.
The seed pods are long and flattened. The round structures are galls which have been formed by an insect.
This is the developing wasp larvae inside a gall. In response to a wasp laying its egg inside the plant's tissue, the plant forms a gall and seals off the damaged area. The egg then develops inside the gall, feeding on the plant tissue, and emerges later as an adult.
This is the adult wasp, a Tanaostigmodes sp, that emerged from the gall.
