Desmodium saccatum B.G.Schub.

stipulate, stipules stramineous ovate acute to acuminate, lobed to auriculate at the base, striate and with scattered long pilosity over the abaxial surface, ciliate, early deciduous (2-)3-4 mm long, (1.5-)2-3 mm wide at base; petioles remotely to obviously sulcate adaxially, somewhat angulate, striate, moderately to abun-dantly uncinulate puberulent, usually glabrescent, 2-5.5 cm long; leaf rachis sim-ilar to the petiole, 1-2.5 cm long; stipels linear lanceolate to linear attenuate, green to stramineous, striate, puberulent, and ciliate, somewhat swollen and slightly auriculate at the base, usually early deciduous, 2.5-4 mm long; petiolules dark green, stout, rugose, densely pilose with yellowish red, straight, tapering trichomes and some short, hooked ones intermixed, those of the terminal leaflets 2-4 mm long, of the laterals 1.5-3 mm long; leaflets triangular to subrhombic in outline, the terminal leaflet usually cuneate at the base, acuminate to the apex, the laterals truncate to rounded at the base, acute at the apex, all usually mu-cronate, moderately uncinulate puberulent and moderately to abundantly ap-pressed pilose with stout trichomes on the adaxial surface, abundantly longer appressed pilose with tapering stout whitish or golden trichomes, the latter es-pecially along the midrib and the margins which are-sometimes involute and always somewhat ciliate, the terminal 6-12 cm long, 3-6 cm wide, the laterals 3-6 cm long, 2-3.3 cm wide. Inflorescence of long, lax, axillary racemes and pan-icles of ephemeral flowers; rachises uncinulate puberulent with golden trichomes; pedicels regularly borne in pairs, each pair subtended by an ovate acuminate, striate, ciliate, early deciduous primary bract, 2.5-3 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, secondary bracts rarely seen; pedicels uncinulate puberulent with slender tri-chomes, 9-12 mm long. Flowers with the calyx puberulent throughout, long stiff, appressed pilose with golden trichomes over the teeth of both the lobes, the central tooth of the lower lobe 3-4.5 mm long, the lateral teeth 2.5-4 mm long, the upper bifid lobe 2-4 mm long; corolla white to blue, standard obovate, scarce-ly clawed, 3.5-6.5 mm long, 3-5 mm wide, wings semi-elliptic, obliquely trape-zoid, short auriculate, short clawed, 4-5.5 mm long, 2.5-4 mm wide, the keel petals partially fused, roughly scythe shaped, tapering toward the base, 3.5-9 mm long, 1.5-3 mm wide at the apex; stamens fused from the base for about 1/2 their length, then vexillar stamen becoming free. Loment stipitate, the stipe puberu-lent, becoming glabrous, 3-5 mm long; articles green, sometimes with a pink tinge, becoming brown at maturity, densely soft pilose throughout but only mi-nutely puberulent to glabrescent over surface when mature, ciliate on sutures, 2-2.9 cm long, 1.7-2.3 cm wide from the base of the notch to the base of the article, the notch ca. 5 mm long; seed subreniform, 2.5-6.5 mm long, 1.4-4 mm wide.