Crotalaria vallicola Baker f.

First published in J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 42: 372 (1914)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Sudan to Tanzania. It is an annual 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
Erect bushy annual or short-lived perennial, with many rather spreading branches from near the base upwards, up to 3–10 dm. tall.
Morphology Stem
Stem densely pubescent, with generally both appressed and spreading hairs.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves 3-foliolate; leaflets narrowly oblong-lanceolate to elliptic or obovate, up to 20–55(–70) mm. long, 10–24 mm. wide, glabrous above, thinly pubescent with fine appressed hairs beneath; petiole 20–35 mm. long.
Morphology Leaves Stipules
Stipules up to 0–5 mm. long, caducous.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Racemes subsessile or shortly pedunculate, almost always dense, up to 3–8(–12) cm. long, many-flowered; bracts caudate-triangular, up to 1·5 mm. long; bracteoles inserted at the top of the pedicel, small, inconspicuous.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Calyx becoming broadly rounded at the base and deflexed against the pedicel, 3–4 mm. long, densely pubescent with fine irregularly arranged appressed or slightly spreading hairs; lobes triangular-acuminate, shorter than the tube.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Standard obovate, yellow, veined or sometimes suffused reddish-brown, glabrous outside; wings longer than the keel; keel semiorbicular, with a short blunt untwisted beak, 5–7 mm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Pod practically sessile, subcylindrical, up to 17–22 mm. long, 5–7 mm. across, pubescent, ± 16–18-seeded.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds very obliquely cordiform, 2·5–3 mm. long, smooth, ochre.
Figures
Fig. 127/9, p. 921.
Habitat
Grassland and secondary bushland, often around rock outcrops, persisting as a weed of cleared ground, cultivations and roadsides; 1140–2250 m.
Distribution
K1 K3 K4 K5 K6 K7 T1 T2 T4 T5 T7 U2 U3 U4
[FTEA]

International Legume Database and Information Service

Conservation
Not Threatened
Ecology
Africa: Lake Victoria regional transition zone; grasslands, Afromontane grassland, Zambezian grassland
Morphology General Habit
Annual, 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: not 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

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images

  • 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