Elephantorrhiza suffruticosa
| Family: | Fabaceae |
| Full name: | Elephantorrhiza suffruticosa Schinz |
| Location: | Kyffhäuser (2416AD + 2416CB) |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Looiwortel, Looiwortelbos, Basbos, Looibos, Skeweblaar-basboontjie |
| English common name(s): | Skew-leaved elephant-root, Edgevein elephantroot, Skew-leaved sumach bean |
| Synonym(s): | - |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Deciduous shrub, rarely a small multi-stemmed tree, 1-4 m tall. Leaves very finely bipinnate with up to 31 pairs of pinnae, each with with up to 50 pairs of leaflets. Leaflets very small, up to 5 mm long, very asymmetric with midrib running along the inner edge of the leaflet. Flowers in dense axillary spikes, normally appearing with the new leaves, creamy yellow. Pod flattened, up to 28 cm long, reddish-brown, raised over the seeds, breaking away from the persistent margins. (from Flora of Zimbabwe website) A branched shrub or small tree 1-5 m high; bark grey-brown to dark- or reddish-brown; young branchlets glabrous or sometimes puberulous to shortly pubescent. Leaves glabrous to puberulous or shortly pubescent: petiole (0.6)1.5-3.5 cm long; rhachis (0.5)10-17(25.4) cm long; pinnae (2)15-27(42) opposite or subopposite pairs; rhachillae (1.4)2-3.5(6.8) cm long; leaflets (17)27-40(50) pairs per pinna, 3-7.5 X 0.5-1.2 mm, linear-oblong to linear, rarely almost falcate, midrib marginal throughout, proximal side rounded basally, apex asymmetric, obtuse to acute, often mucronate, lateral nerves and veins not or scarcely visible, glabrous or sometimes sparingly pubescent on the margins. Racemes axillary, solitary or 2-3 together, or borne on lateral shoots, (4)6-14(18) cm long (including the peduncle), pubescent or sometimes glabrous. Flowers yellowish-white, on pedicels up to 1 mm long, pedicels articulated near the middle, with minute reddish or reddish-brown glands at the base of the pedicels. Calyx cupular, up to 1 mm long, shortly 5-toothed, glabrous or sometimes very sparingly pubescent. Petals shortly united basally, 3-... (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of Southern Africa) A branched shrub or small tree 1-5 m high; bark grey-brown to dark- or reddishbrown; young branchlets glabrous or sometimes puberulous to shortly pubescent. Leaves glabrous to puberulous or shortly pubescent: petiole (0.6) 1.5-3.5 cm long; rhachis (0.5)10-17(25.4) cm long; pinnae (2)15-27(42) opposite or subopposite pairs; rhachillae (1.4)2-3.5(6.8) cm long; leaflets (17)27-40(50) pairs per pinna, 3-7.5 x 0.5-1.2 mm, linear-oblong to linear, rarely almost falcate, midrib marginal throughout, proximal side rounded basally, apex asymmetric, obtuse to acute, often mucronate, lateral nerves and veins not or scarcely visible, glabrous or sometimes sparingly pubescent on the margins. Racemes axillary, solitary or 2-3 together, or borne on lateral shoots, (4)6-14(18) cm long (including the peduncle), pubescent or sometimes glabrous. Flowers yellowish-white, on pedicels up to 1 mm long, pedicels articulated near the middle, with minute reddish or reddish-brown glands at the base of the pedicels. Calyx cupular, up to 1 mm long, shortly 5-toothed, glabrous or sometimes very sparingly pubescent. Petals shortly united basally, 3-3,75 mm long, 1 mm wide, linear-oblong, indexed apically, glabrous. Stamens free among themselves, slightly adnate to the corolla basally; filaments up to 5 mm long; anthers up to 0.8 mm long, with a deciduous apical gland. Ovary up to 2 mm long, linear, glabrous. Pods dark brown or reddish-brown, 8.5-30.5 X 1.8-2.25 cm, straight or slightly curved, linear-oblong to oblong, compressed, usually prominently transversely venose, umbonate over the seeds, at maturity the valves separating from the persistent margins, the outer layer of the pod-wall peeling off the inner layer, the layers remaining intact or breaking up irregularly. Seeds 13-15 x 9-12 mm, roughly ellipsoid. (from Flora of Southern Africa) Shrub 1-6 m high, deciduous; bark similar to that of E. goetzei; young branchlets glabrous, or sometimes puberulous to shortly pubescent. Leaves up to 27 cm long (rhachis + petiole); rhachides usually with a little pubescence on the upper side, sometimes beneath as well; pinnae (2)15-31 pairs; leaflets (19)30-50 pairs per pinna, 5-6 x 0.4-1.2 mm, linear-oblong to linear, glabrous, proximal side of the base rounded; midrib marginal throughout; apex asymmetric, varying from obtuse to acute, often mucronate; lateral nerves and veins not or scarcely visible. Racemes 4-18 cm long (including the peduncle), often pubescent, sometimes glabrous; minute reddish or reddish-brown mealy glands present round the pedicel-bases. Inflorescence usually said to be cream-coloured but described as golden-yellow in one gathering. Petals 3-3.75 mm long. Pods 13-27.5 x 2-2.25 cm, linear-oblong to linear. Seeds c. 14 x 11 x 5 mm (only one measured, perhaps not mature), roughly ellipsoid. (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: | 18 Mar 2007 |
| Camera make: | Canon |
| Camera model: | PowerShot A700 |
| Lens aperture: | f/4.0 |
| Shutter speed: | 1/500 s |
| ISO speed: | - |
| Content last updated: | 18 Apr 2024 |
