Crotalaria longirostrata Hook. & Arn.

Shrub or small tree to 2 m tall, stem terete, strongly striate when young. Leaves trifoliolate, the terminal leaflets narrowly elliptic, the apex rounded or mucronulate, the base cuneate, 3.0-3.8 cm long, 0.7-1.0 cm broad, entire, above glabrous, beneath strigulose, the veins 8-10 on each side of the midvein, faintly visible, lateral leaflets similar but slightly smaller; petiole 1.5-3.0 cm long; stipules narrowly triangular, ca. 1.5 mm long. Inflorescences terminal racemes bearing 15-20 flowers; bracts narrowly triangular, 1.6-2.5 mm long, caducous; pedicels 4-5 mm long; bracteoles linear triangular, ca. 1 mm long, strigulose, located near the top of the pedicel. Flowers yellow, 11-14 mm long, calyx 6.0-6.5 mm long, the tube truncate, the lobes about as long as the tube, strigulose; corolla yellow or occasionally tinged with maroon, 10-13 mm long, the standard 10-15 mm long, 11-15.5 mm broad, retuse, the wings 9-11 mm long, the claws 1.5-2.0 mm long, oblong-elliptic oblique, the keel 12-13 mm long, the twisted beak strongly pro-longed; stamens dimorphic, the long anthers 1.6-2.2 mm long, the short anthers 0.5-0.7 mm long; style with a pubescent stigma, sharply geniculate, 10-11 mm long. Legume inflated, 1.8-2.5 cm long, strigulose, brown at maturity; seeds ca. 16, beige to brown, oblique cordiform, to 3.2 mm long.

Moist or rather dry thickets or open, often rocky hillsides, frequently in pine or oak forest, often abundant in cultivated fields, and commonly planted in fields or gardens, at elevations up to 2,300 metres.

The leaves are cooked and eaten. The leaves can be ground with garlic and put on bread of added to white sauce. They add a very distinctive favour. It can be dried and stored. Caution: Some Crotalarias contain alkaloids and this plant should probably be eaten only in small amounts in soups.

Can be grown by seedlings. Seeds needs soaking.