File:Hardenbergia violacea plant CT 8.jpg

English: Native cool-season perennial C3 legume with tough twining scrambling stems that are woody at the base. Leaves are leathery, dark green, ovate to narrow-lanceolate and 3-10 cm long. Flowerheads are racemes of 20-30 purple (sometimes pink or white) pea-like flowers; standard (upright petal) has a yellowish spot. Pods are oblong, 2-5 cm long and brown at maturity. Flowers in late winter and spring. Found in a variety of habitats, twining through shrubs or around the bases of trees, or over fallen timber or rocks. Extremely drought tolerant, preferring well drained sites and often found on poor gravelly skeletal soils. Native biodiversity. A coloniser of disturbed sites, it regrows from rootstock and seeds after fire and grazing. Seeds are adapted for ant dispersal. Plants can live for 5-30 years and take 4-7 years before they produce seed. Fixes nitrogen and is moderately productive, but is very sensitive to grazing and can rapidly die out. Exclude grazing or lightly stock and provide strategic rests for best persistence; remove stock while plenty of leaf and stem still remains.