Plant suffruticose, perennial, low growing, 10-30 cm tall with uncinate pu-bescence; root stock woody, 2-7 mm thick, rarely branched, pubescent when young; thickened nodose where stem arises; stems usually 1 or few, erect to ascending, unbranched, becoming weakly zigzag above, the internodes usually 2-5 cm long, straight to weakly arcuate, striate, often purplish above, densely pilose when young, glabrate with age. Leaves trifoliate, short petiolate, some-times the lower leaves unifoliate, sessile; leaflets oblong lanceolate, the apex acute or obtuse, mucronate, the base cuneate, 5-14 cm long, 8-26 mm wide, usually 4-10 times longer than wide, dark green, glabrate with minute uncinate pubescence above, pilose on the nerves, pale glaucescent, glabrescent below, the veins prominent on both sides, impressed above, raised below, primary veins 5-8 pairs, alternate, widely spaced, ascending, upcurved near base, minor veins reticulate, petioles (1)3-5(8) mm long, striate, pubescence uncinate, pilose; rachis (1)2-5(7) mm long; stipules ovate lanceolate, acuminate, 5-11 mm long, 2-3 mm wide, striate, pubescence uncinate, pilose ciliate; stipels linear, striate, 3-8 mm long, 1 mm wide, pubescence uncinate, pilose ciliate; petiolules 1.5-3 mm, pu-bescence uncinate, pilose. Inflorescence axillary, 2-flowered racemes or occa-sionally 2 pairs of flowers, chasmogamous, or cleistogamous; in chasmogamous flowers the peduncle 0.5-3.5 cm long, longer than the petiole, pubescence unci-nate, pilose, striate, expanding at the tip; bracts 2,4,(6), the inner pair deciduous, 2 mm long, ca. 0.2 mm wide, the middle pair persistent, ovate, striate, pubescence uncinate, ciliate, 4-6(9) mm long, 1.5-2.5 mm wide, concave around the pedicel, the outer bracts semideciduous, 3-5 mm long, 1 mm wide; pedicels 5-9 mm long, pilose; bracteoles lanceolate, persistent, striate, pilose, ciliate, 9-12(15) mm long, 2.5-4 mm wide, inserted 1-2 mm below the calyx, rarely alternate and 3-6 mm below the calyx; in cleistogamous flowers, the peduncle 2-7 cm, pedicels 2-3 mm long; bracteoles 4-7 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, inserted 0.5-1 mm below the calyx. Flowers blue lavender, pinkish or white with a prominent purple to yel-22 mm long, 4-6 mm wide at the base to 8-11 mm wide at the throat, pubescence uncinate, pilose, the lobes 8-15 mm long, broad, 5 mm wide at base, oblong to ovate lanceolate, acuminate, ciliate, usually prominently 3-nerved, subequal; standard 5-7(7.5) cm long, 4.5-5.5 cm wide, glabrous outside except weakly uncinate to short ciliate near the tip, the wings extending 7-10 mm beyond the This content downloaded from 192.104.39.2 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 16:05:15 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions1980] DWYER & COLLABORATORS-FLORA OF PANAMA (Family 83. Leguminosae) 589 keel, the blade 21-27 mm long, 7-10 mm wide, the claw 13-19 mm long, the keel falcate, the blade 13-15 mm across, 5-6 mm wide, the claw 22-29 mm long; staminal column 32-37 mm long, persistent, the free filaments 2-5 mm long, incurved, the anthers 1.4-2 mm long, 0.8-1 mm wide; gynophore ca. 6 mm long, the ovary ca. 8 mm long, compressed, linear, costate, densely pubescent, the style ca. 24 mm, the stigma dilated, ca. 8 mm diam. Fruit brown, stipitate, weakly convex, the valves 3.5-5 cm long, 6-10 mm wide, the persistent style beak to 11 mm, valves twisting at maturity; stipe enclosed in the calyx, ca. 11-12 mm long; seeds globose, dark reddish brown, smooth, sticky, glabrous, 3.5-4 mm long, 3-3.5 mm wide, 7-8 per pod; fruit of cleistogamous flowers 7-11 mm wide, glabrate, with violet sutures. Cleistogamous flowers small, inconspicuous corolla 1-2 mm, usually lacking; calyx tube 5-9 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide at the base, 2-5 mm wide at the throat, pubescence pilose, minutely pubescent, the lobes 2-4 mm.
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