Crotalaria occidentalis Hepper

First published in Kew Bull. 11: 113 (1956)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is W. Tropical Africa to Cameroon, Zambia. It is an annual and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

International Legume Database and Information Service

Conservation
Not Threatened
Ecology
Africa: Guinea-Congolia/Sudania regional transition zone; grasslands., Zambezian grassland
Morphology General Habit
Annual, Not climbing, Herb
[ILDIS]

Leguminosae, various authors. Flora Zambesiaca 3:7. 2003

Morphology General Habit
Erect, sometimes diffuse, annual, 15–50 cm tall; branches slender, appressed pubescent.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves subsessile, simple; blade (7)10–22 × 3–6 mm, oblong, rounded at both ends, appressed pubescent beneath; stipules mostly 1–2 mm long, subulate, but enlarged on flowering branches (leaflet proportionally reduced), 2–4 mm long, linear-lanceolate to obliquely lanceolate-acuminate.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Racemes mostly on rather short lateral branches with modified leaves, 1–3 cm long, 1–2-flowered (second flower sometimes aborting), the axis filiform; bracts 1–1.5 mm long, linear or linear-subulate (upper one paired by a filiform rhachis-extension); bracteoles at top of a rather short pedicel, smaller.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Calyx 3.5–4 mm long, deeply divided into 2 lips, appressed pubescent; lobes narrowly triangular-lanceolate, c. 3 times as long as the tube.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Standard broadly elliptic, yellow, lined red, puberulous medially near apex outside; wings as long as the keel; keel 5 mm long, subangular, with a rather short twisted beak.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Pod shortly stipitate, 1.2–1.6 × 0.35–0.45 cm, oblong-fusiform, glabrous, 10–16-seeded.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds 1.2–1.5 mm long, very obliquely cordiform, minutely pitted, greenish to reddish-brown.
[FZ]

Papilionaceae, Hutchinson and Dalziel. Flora of West Tropical Africa 1:2. 1958

Morphology General Habit
A slender ascending herb up to 2 ft. high
Ecology
Of seasonally flooded land
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers red and yellow.
[FWTA]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Flora Zambesiaca

    • Flora Zambesiaca
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of West Tropical Africa

    • Flora of West Tropical Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • International Legume Database and Information Service

    • International Legume Database and Information Service (ILDIS) V10.39 Nov 2011
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • World Checklist of Vascular plants (WCVP)

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0