Crotalaria ionoptera Polhill

First published in Crotalaria Africa & Madagascar: 340 (1982)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is W. & SW. Zambia. It is an annual and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

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

Morphology General Habit
Slender erect branching annual 20–70 cm tall; stem densely appressed puberulous.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves 1-foliolate above, 3-foliolate below; leaflets 8–22 × 0.5–4 mm, mostly linear-oblanceolate, acute, lower ones sometimes oblong-oblanceolate, appressed puberulous beneath; petiole 1–5(7) mm long; stipules 0.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Racemes 3–18 cm long, very laxly 4–12-flowered, sometimes with a few flowers in the axils below; bracts 1.5–2.5 mm long, linear, shorter than the pedicel.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Calyx 3.5–4.5 mm long, with appressed to irregularly arranged hairs; upper lobes narrowly triangular, slightly acuminate, 1.5–2 times as long as the tube.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Standard elliptic, reddish-brown and pubescent outside, violet with yellow basal marks inside; wings blue to violet, shorter than the keel; keel 1–1.2 cm long, angular, with a long narrow reddish-brown beak slightly incurved at the tip.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Pod subsessile, 6–9 × 3–6 mm, shortly oblong-ellipsoid to ellipsoid-globose, pubescent, 16–20-seeded.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds 2 mm across, oblique-cordiform, smooth.
[FZ]

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]

International Legume Database and Information Service

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

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

  • 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