Crotalaria perlaxa Polhill

First published in Kew Bull. 25: 275 (1971)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is SE. Tanzania. It is a perennial or subshrub and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

Leguminosae, J. B. Gillett, R. M. Polhill & B. Verdcourt. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1971

Morphology General Habit
Short-lived perennial herb, 9–12 dm. tall, with a single stem, woody at the very base, laxly branched above, glabrous.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves 3–foliolate; leaflets elliptic-lanceolate above, up to 7 cm. long and 2·4 cm. wide, and broadly elliptic below, up to 12·5 cm. long and 5·5 cm. wide, usually slightly acuminate, acute or bluntly pointed; petiole 3–10 cm. long.
Morphology Leaves Stipules
Stipules absent.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Racemes lax, up to 24 cm. long, with ± 4–12 flowers on the slender rhachis; bracts filiform or subulate, up to 2–3·5 mm. long, rather persistent; bracteoles inserted on the pedicel, up to 1 mm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Calyx 15–16 mm. long, basally narrowed into a prominent receptacle; upper lobes free in the mature flowers, narrowly attenuate-triangular, ± twice as long as the tube.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Standard ovate, yellow, flushed with purple; wings a little over half as long as the keel; keel strongly rounded about the middle, with a well-developed truncate upwardly directed untwisted beak, 25–27 mm. long, speckled dull purple.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Pod narrowly cylindrical, parallel-sided, rather abruptly contracted into the 8–9 mm. long stipe, 56–58 mm. long, 9 mm. across, conspicuously transverse-veined, ± 16–18–seeded.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds unknown.
Habitat
Brachystegia woodland, in moister shaded places; 850 m.
Distribution
not known elsewhere T8
[FTEA]

International Legume Database and Information Service

Conservation
Insufficiently known
Ecology
Africa: Zambezian woodland
Morphology General Habit
Perennial, Not climbing, Herb
[ILDIS]

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: threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

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

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East 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