Hovea trisperma

Common name: Common Hovea

Meaning of name:

Hovea honours Anton Pantaleon Hove, collector of plants for Kew on the West African coast, in the Crimea and India. Trisperma is from the Greek words treis, meaning three, and sperma, meaning seed. It refers to the 3-celled ovary, in contrast with the more usual 2- or 4-celled ovaries in this genus.

Distribution:

Occurs in the south west of Western Australia.

Description:

A shrub to 70 centimetres tall. The blue to purple (occasionally white) flowers are produced from June to September.

Associations:

Species of Hovea are the food plant for the caterpillar of Uresiphita ornithopteralis.

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.

Butterfly House https://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/pyru/ornithopteralis.html

Atlas of Living Australia https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://id.biodiversity.org.au/node/apni/2895730

Florabase https://florabase.dbca.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/3968