Humularia apiculata (De Wild.) P.A.Duvign.

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

Morphology General Habit

Erect subshrub 0.3–2 m tall.

Morphology Stem

Stems usually many from a woody base, branched, glabrous or scabrid with tubercular-based hairs.

Morphology Leaves

Leaves 4–6(8)-foliolate; leaflets 6–23 × 35–12 mm, obovate, obovate-elliptic or narrowly obovate-oblong, truncate, emarginate or rounded at the apex, apiculate, obliquely rounded at the base, margins sparsely ciliate-denticulate to distinctly denticulate or in some variants quite smooth and glabrous, sometimes glaucescent; main nerve distinctly lateral, dividing the lamina into two unequal parts, one 1.5–3 times wider than the other and often of unequal length; other basal nerves 2–4; venation reticulate; petiole 5–9 mm long, glabrous or with tubercular-based hairs; rhachis 5–10 mm long, glabrous or similarly hairy, ending in a bristle 1.5–5 mm long; stipules mostly yellow with pinkish-white blotch, leaf-like or submembranous, 3–14 × 2–6 mm, lanceolate, broadly elliptic or elliptic-oblong, acuminate or apiculate at the apex, equally to unequally distinctly or obscurely biauriculate at the base, entire to closely ciliate-denticulate on the margins, mostly glabrous, usually deciduous.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescences borne on leafy shoots, densely strobilate, 8–16-flowered, 2–6 cm long; peduncle 5–7.5 mm long, pedicels 3 mm long; bracts pale green and pink, often glaucous, 7–15 × 9–20 mm, divided into 2 lobes for one-third to half their length (or in outer ones almost their entire length); lobes ovate, obtuse or acuminate, entirely to closely denticulate, glabrous or ciliate; bracteoles 2–3 × 0.5–1 mm, lanceolate, ciliate-denticulate.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx

Calyx lobes 7 × 2.5–3 mm, ovate-oblong, the upper one entire, the lower shortly 3-fid.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla

Standard yellow or orange, 8–9 × 3–3.5 mm, panduriform.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Fruit of 1 kettle-drum-shaped article, 4–5 mm long and wide, the upper margin straight, the lower margin very rounded.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds

Seeds very dark blackish-purple, 3.8 × 3.5 × 1.3 mm, obliquely reniform, pitted; hilum small eccentric.

Use

Medicine