Crotalaria speciosa

Erect golden silky hairy herbs or undershrubs, up to 40 cm high; stems woody, branched from the base; branches erecto-patent, 2-4 mm thick. Leaves simple, 2-4.3 x 0.8-1.5 cm, elliptic-oblong, linear-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, rounded at base, obtuse or rounded and mucronate at apex, densely hairy on both surfaces or sometimes less hairy above; lateral veins about 7 pairs; petioles 1-3 mm long; stipules subulate, 1-4 mm long, long hairy. Inflorescence terminal, densely capitate heads, 2-4 cm across with a leaf just below the head; peduncles ca 1 cm long. Flowers 6-8, 1.3-2.0 x 0.8-1.5 cm; pedicels 3-5 mm long; bracts linear, lanceolate or ovate, 8-11 x 2- 5 mm, equal or shorter than the calyx, persistent, velvety; bracteoles 6-8 mm long, appressed to calyx. Calyx 5-lobed, tube ca 2 mm long, lobes 1.0- 1.2 x 0.2-0.4 cm, densely velvety, distinctly veined, 2-lipped, upper lip 2- lobed; lobes lanceolate, lower lip 3-lobed, lobes linear. Corolla bright yellow, nearly equal to calyx or included; vexillum obovate, 1.2-1.5 x 0.8- 1.2 cm, densely brown-silky hairy outside, glabrous within; wing petals oblong, ca 1.3 x 0.3-0.4 cm, hairy at the base; keel petals 1.0-1.1 x 0.4-0.6 cm, densely silky hairy outside, beak spirally twisted. Staminal sheath 3-6 mm long; free filaments 3-7 mm long. Ovary globose, 5-8 mm long, style 8- 10 mm long; stigma subglobose; ovules 10-15. Pods shorter than the calyx, globose, glabrous; seeds 8-12.

submission of Crotalaria speciosa : 2 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (3)