Aeschynomene tenuirama Welw. ex Baker

International Legume Database and Information Service

Conservation

Not Threatened

Ecology

Africa: Zambezian woodland, Zambezian bushland and thicket

Morphology General Habit

Perennial, Not climbing, Herb/Shrub

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

Morphology General Habit

Subshrub with a woody rhizome-like rootstock and several branched or unbranched, sometimes almost leafless erect stems 0.3–2 m tall, pubescent with short tubercular-based glandular hairs when young or glabrescent, finally glabrous.

Morphology Leaves

Leaves 10–100-foliolate; leaflets 1.5–8 × 0.7–2.5 mm, obovate-oblong to oblong, acute, rounded or retuse and mucronulate at the apex, rounded at the base, glabrous; main nerve central, the lateral nerves sometimes very raised and distinct below and anastomosing near the margin; the leaflets are larger and more numerous on the non-flowering stems; petiole and rhachis together 0.7–5.5 cm long, puberulous or glabrous; petiolules very short; stipules on flowering branches 5–8 × 1–1.7 mm, lanceolate, acuminate, unilaterally appendaged or not sometimes on the same branch, glabrous or ciliolate, deciduous or persistent; stipules on sterile branches 1–1.7 cm long with appendage c. 1–3 mm long, very deciduous.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Racemes or panicles axillary or axillary and terminal, 4–12 cm long, puberulous or glabrous with many well-spaced flowers; peduncles 1–4 cm long; pedicels 3–8 mm long, puberulous or glabrous; bracts 2.5 × 1–1.5 mm, elliptic or oblong, 2–3-toothed or -partite, very deciduous; bracteoles 1.5–3 × 0.5–1 mm, lanceolate, deciduous.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx

Calyx brownish-purple, glabrous, 2-lipped; lips 3.5–6 × 2–4 mm, elliptic-oblong, ciliolate or not, one 2-lobed, the other 3-lobed.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla

Standard yellow to orange, sometimes tinged red outside, 5.5–7 × 2–4.5 mm, violin-shaped or ± rectangular, emarginate, wings and keel petals yellow or green, the latter not laciniate.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Fruit of 1–2 articles joined by a very narrow neck, each article semicircular, 7–9 × 5–7 mm (but see note), glabrous or rarely pubescent, reticulate, or finely rugulose when adult.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds

Seeds not seen ripe, pale brown, 3.2 × 2.2 mm, semicircular-reniform; hilum minute, eccentric.