Synonyms: | |
Common names: | |
Frequency: | |
Status: | Native |
Description: |
Prostrate to erect perennial herb, much branched, branches up to 1.5 m long, with fine spreading hairs; leaves 3-foliolate, petioles 2-6 mm long; leaflets 1-3 x 0.5-1.2 cm, oblanceolate to oblong-obovate, sparsely pubescent above and thinly hairy beneath; stipules 3-6 mm long, lanceolate; flowers in 4-12 sessile or shortly pedunculate terminal heads; bracts 4-9 mm, ovate; calyx 4 lobed, 8-13 mm long, almost enclosing the corolla, pubescent, lobes 2-3 times as long as tube; standard circular-ovate to oblate, usually pale yellow, reddish-tinged and puberulous along the midvein outside towards the apex; wings longer than keel; keel 8-10 mm long, rounded about the middle and with a short incurved beak; pod enveloped by calyx, sessile, 7-10 mm long, ellipsoid, spreading hairy, c. 4-8 seeded; seeds c. 2.5 mm long, obliquely cordiform, smooth, mauvish-brown. Var. nigricans differs in having prostrate stems radiating from a rather woody taproot and inflorescences never more than a few centimetres from the ground. |
Type location: |
Tanzania |
Notes: | |
Derivation of specific name: | nigricans: blackish, presumably referring to the tendency of the plants to turn blackish upon drying in the press. |
Habitat: | |
Altitude range: (metres) | |
Flowering time: | Apr - Sep |
Worldwide distribution: | DRC (Katanga) and Tanzania south through Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. |
FZ divisions: | N |
Growth form(s): | |
Endemic status: | |
Red data list status: | |
Insects associated with this species: | |
Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
Literature: |
Martins, E.S. et al. (2003). Papilionoideae Flora Zambesiaca 3(7) Pages 130 - 132. |