Crotalaria willdenowiana DC. (syn: Crotalaria genistoides Willd.; Crotalaria genistoides Willd.);

India (N) ; Andhra Pradesh; Tamil Nadu ; Sri Lanka (I) as per ILDIS;


Erect perennial herbs or undershrubs, 20-75 cm high; rootstock woody, branched, tinged deep yellow; stems copiously branched, spreading, terete, sericeous. Leaves 3-foliolate, up to 2.5 cm long; leaflets 1-2 x 0.3-0.6, chartaceous, oblanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, cuneate at base, emarginate and apiculate at apex, sericeous on both surfaces; petioles 4-6 mm long, petiolule 0.5-1.0 mm long; stipules ovate- lanceolate, ca 4 mm long. Racemes terminal and axillary, up to 3 cm long; peduncles ca 2 cm long, hairy; bracts linear, ca 2 mm long; bracteoles ca 1.5 mm long, subapical on pedicel; pedicels 2.0-2.5 mm long, hairy. Flowers 2-10, 8-10 mm long. Calyx 2-3 mm long, dense-pubescent, 5-lobed, tube ca 1.5 mm long, lobes divided to half their length, upper 2 lanceolate, lower 3 linear. Corolla yellow, twice as long as calyx; vexillum orbicular, 9-10 x 7-8 mm, obtuse and apiculate at apex, hairy on the back; wing petals oblong, 6-8 x 2-3 mm, obtuse; keel petals 6-8 x 2-4 mm, beak spirally twisted. Staminal sheath ca 2 mm long; free filaments 3-6 mm long; longer anthers oblong, ca 1.5 mm long; shorter anthers ovoid, ca 0.7 mm long. Ovary sessile, ca 3 mm long, 2-ovuled, pubescent; style ca 3 mm long. Pods sessile, obliquely subglobose, 4-5 mm long, strongly beaked, pubescent, twice as long as calyx; seeds 2, reniform, 1-2 x 2-3 mm, grey, shiny.

Flowering and fruiting: November-March
In moist localities
Peninsular India
(Attributions- Dr. N Sasidharan (Dr. B P Pal Fellow), Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi from India Biodiversity Portal)



 

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Submission of Crotalaria willdenowiana DC., : 2 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (4)

Plant name: Crotalaria willdenowiana DC., Prodr. 2: 134. 1825.
Family: Fabaceae
Description: Herbs, perennial, 20-75 cm tall; rootstock woody. Stems hard, copiously branched, spreading.  Leaves alternate; 3-foliolate; leaflets 1-2 × 0.3-0.6, chartaceous, oblanceolate, sericeous on both surfaces; petioles 4-6 mm long; stipules ovate- lanceolate, 4 mm long. Flowers 8-10 mm long, 2-10 in terminal and axillary short racemes to 3 cm. Corolla yellow, twice as long as calyx; papillionoid; vexillum orbicular, 9-10 × 7-8 mm, obtuse at apex, hairy on the back; beak spirally twisted. Pods sessile, obliquely subglobose, 4-5 mm long, strongly beaked, pubescent, twice as long as calyx; seeds 2, reniform, 1-2 × 2-3 mm, grey, shiny.
Habitat & location: Rare. Found in dry areas. Photographed at Somasila


 

References:

Catalogue of Life  The Plant List Ver.1.1  ILDIS  India Biodiversity Portal Wild Relatives of Cultivated Plants in India: A Reservoir of AlternativeBy Anurudh Kumar Singh (2017- details)  An Excursion Flora of Central Tamilnadu, India By K. M. Matthew (1995- details)  Embryology and Apomixis in Grasses By T. Pullaiah, G. N. V. Febulaus (2000- details)