Crotalaria damarensis
| Family: | Fabaceae |
| Full name: | Crotalaria damarensis Engl. |
| Location: | Kyffhäuser (2416AD + 2416CB) |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | - |
| English common name(s): | Damaraland rattle pod |
| Synonym(s): | Crotalaria fleckii Schinz Crotalaria lindneri Schinz Crotalaria marlothii Engl. |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Yellow flowers and long unequal stipules. Identified by split stipules, keel tip longer than wings, and blackish ''dark" suture on fruits, plus dull yellow seeds. (from https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/10882527#activity_comment_4736964, Charles Stirton) Generally very similar to Crotalaria podocarpa but distinguished by the stipules which are divided into 2-4 differently sized segments. Segments linear-lanceolate to falcate, largest up to 18 mm long. (from Flora of Botswana website) Similar to C.podocarpa, distinguished certainly only by the divided stipules. Branches usually appressed pubescent. Stipules shortly stalked, (2)3–4-partite; segments very shortly stalked, unequal, the proximal one 4–18 mm long, linear-lanceolate to falcate, acuminate, very unequal-sided, the others smaller. Racemes often 6–12-flowered; bracts up to 4–8 mm long; pedicels 1–2.5 mm long. Keel 10.5–14 mm long. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Zambesiaca) Annual with an erect stem to 70 cm tall and long spreading or decumbent lower branches, with generally spreading hears. Leaves 3- foliolate; leaflets variable, mostly 1.5–5(8) × 0.3–1.6(2.5) cm, linear or oblong- lanceolate to obovate-elliptic, usually thinly hairy at least beneath; petioles mostly shorter than the leaflets; stipules 5–17 × 3–7 mm, shortly stalked, linear - lanceolate to lanceolate- falcate, acuminate, usually truncate or rounded at the base, very unequal-sided. Racemes (3)6–14 cm long, long-pedunculate, laxly 2–5(8) - flowered; bracts up to 3.5 mm long, filiform and caducous, or lacking; pedicels 2.5–6 mm long. Calyx 7–9 mm long, hairy or subglabrous; lobes triangular -subulate, longer than the tube, ultimately reflexed. Standard ovate, clear yellow, sometimes slightly reddish tinged, glabrous outside; wings a little shorter than the keel; keel 1.2–1.7 cm long, angled in the lower half, with a straight beak, lanate towards the upper edge (particularly on the beak). Pod 2–3 × 0.9–1.4 cm, cylindrical, often rather broadly so and somewhat inflated when young, abruptly contracted to the slender 2.5–5 mm long stipe, glabrous, 6–12-seeded. Seeds 4.5–6 mm in diameter, subcircular - reniform, compressed with a broad raised rim, irregularly tuberculate, orange or pale yellow. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Zambesiaca) |
| Link(s) |
African Plant Database
JSTOR Plant Science Kew Herbarium Catalogue BGBM Berlin-Dahlem - Virtual Herbarium Züricher Herbarien iNaturalist (Namibia / Alex Dreyer) iNaturalist (Namibia) iNaturalist (southern Africa) Flora of Zimbabwe Fleurs de notre Terre - Galerie Namibie Tree Atlas of Namibia |
| Photographer: | AA Dreyer |
| Date of photograph: | 23 Mar 2008 |
| Camera make: | Canon |
| Camera model: | PowerShot A700 |
| Lens aperture: | f/4.0 |
| Shutter speed: | 1/640 s |
| ISO speed: | - |
| Content last updated: | 18 Apr 2024 |
