Comesperma retusum
# Comesperma retusum

Comesperma retusum, commonly known as milkwort, is a slender herb in the family Polygalaceae. It is an upright shrub with purple or mauve-pink pea-like flowers and grows in eastern Australia.

## Description

Comesperma retusum is a small, upright, leafy shrub to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) high and sparsely branched with more or less, pinkish warty stems. The leaves are elliptic to oblong-shaped, thick, 5–15 mm (0.20–0.59 in) long, 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) wide and blunt or with a small point at the apex. The flowers are in a terminal raceme up to 1 cm (0.39 in) long, occasionally on short branches near the end of stems and the pedicels 5–8 mm (0.20–0.31 in) long. The purple or mauve-pink flowers are pea-like, 4–8 mm (0.16–0.31 in) long, outer sepals free, 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) long, wing sepals usually 6–8 mm (0.24–0.31 in) long and the lateral petals equal in length as the yellow-tipped keel. Flowering occurs from November to January and the fruit is a flattened, elongated capsule 9–12 mm (0.35–0.47 in) long.

## Taxonomy and naming

Comesperma retusum was first formally described in 1806 by Jacques Labillardière and the description was published in Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen. The specific epithet (retusum) refers to the leaf apex.

## Distribution and habitat

Milkwort grows in bogs and swamps in montane, subalpine locations and occasionally coastal swamps in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory.

