Sturt's desert pea

noun

A wildflower endemic to Australia, Swainsona formosa, known for its distinctive blood-red leaflike flowers, each with a bulbous black centre.

Similar
desert peaSturt peaClianthus formosusClianthus speciosus

Meanings

nounSturt's desert pea (plural Sturt's desert peas)

plural Sturt's desert peas

  1. A wildflower endemic to Australia, Swainsona formosa, known for its distinctive blood-red leaflike flowers, each with a bulbous black centre.
    1 more example

    Innovative New York City floral artists such as Emily Thompson have long valued Australian plants, including spiky banksia, spidery Grevillea and Swainsona formosa — also known as Strut’s desert pea,^([sic]) which resembles a multieyed visitor from another galaxy — but local designers were raised to regard native species as mundane and overly rustic.

    2022 September 23, Besha Rodell, “Australian Floral Designs That, at Long Last, Embrace Australian Flora”, in The New York Times Style Magazine

Synonyms & antonyms

nounsprawling shrubby perennial noted for its scarlet black-marked flowers; widely distributed in dry parts of Australia

Similar
desert peaSturt peaClianthus formosusClianthus speciosus
Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Named after Charles Sturt (1795–1869), British officer and explorer, who recorded seeing large quantities of the flowers while exploring central Australia in 1844.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Sturt's desert pea. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sturt's%20desert%20pea

MLA

“Sturt's desert pea.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sturt's%20desert%20pea. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Sturt's desert pea,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sturt's%20desert%20pea.

Source: Sturt's desert pea on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.