Aeschynomene pararubrofarinacea J.Léonard

Leguminosae, B. Verdcourt. Flora Zambesiaca 3:6. 2000

Morphology General Habit

Shrub or small tree 1.5–4.5 m tall; all but youngest branchlets covered with thick brownish-red powdery bark; young stems covered with short glandular tubercular-based hairs.

Morphology Leaves

Leaves (12)18–26-foliolate; leaflets 6–23 × 2–10 mm, oblong, lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate or elliptic-oblong, rounded to truncate and mucronulate at the apex, obliquely rounded at the base, glabrous, midrib ± central with c. 3 basal nerves below it; petiole and rhachis 5.5–10 cm long, glabrous or at first slightly puberulous; petiolules 1–1.5 mm long; stipules 5–13 × 2.5–4.5 mm, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, cordate at the base or ± unilaterally appendaged, glabrous or at most ciliate, deciduous.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescences axillary, zigzag, several-flowered, 2.5–10 cm long, pubescent like the young stems; true peduncles very short; pedicels 5–8 mm long, glandular-pubescent; bracts green, leaf-like, overlapping but not hiding the flowers, persistent, 4–10 × 3–12 mm, deeply bilobed, each lobe elliptic, scarious, nervose, glabrous inside, pubescent outside, denticulate-ciliate with glandular hairs; about half the bracts are sterile; bracteoles 4–7 × 1–3 mm, elliptic-lanceolate, ciliate, persistent.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx

Calyx 2-lipped; lips 7–9 × 4–6 mm, ovate to oblong-elliptic, one 2-toothed, the other shortly 3-lobed.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla

Standard yellow, 8–10 × 5–6 mm, violin-shaped, rounded at the apex, wings yellow; keel petals yellow, not laciniate.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Fruit of 1–2 articles joined by a narrow neck, each article semicircular, 5–7 × 4–5.5 mm, compressed, glabrous, smooth, veined.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds

Seeds reddish-brown, 5 × 4 × 2 mm, reniform; hilum small, circular, slightly eccentric; a trace of a rim-aril present.