Lotononis brevicaulis B.-e.van Wyk

Perennial dwarf shrublet with a distinctly dimorphic branch system consisting of a short, erect, persistent stem from which lax, horizontally divergent flowering shoots develop annually. Perennial stem (caudex) erect, single or dichotomously forked in older specimens, (15-)30-40(-60) mm long, much thickened apically due to a dense mass of persistent petiole bases and the remains of annual shoots of previous seasons. Flowering branchlets procumbent, (20-)40-60(-120) mm long, dying back after fruiting, the basal part remaining on the caudex for some years. Leaves digitately (5-)6-7(-8)-foliolate, markedly dimorphic; cauline leaves long-petiolate; petioles (10-)30-40(-60) mm long, the basal third much dilated, thin, chartaceous, distinctly 3-veined, densely covered with long reddish-brown woolly hairs, upper part filiform, terete, with sparse, short hairs; leaflets (5-)10-15(-18) mm long, 2-5 mm wide, equal in size and shape, conduplicate, elliptic to narrowly oblanceolate, base narrowly cuneate, apex rounded, obtuse, acute or acuminate, densely strigose-hirsute; leaves on annual shoots shorter and smaller; petioles (3-)5-12(-22) mm long, not dilated basally; leaflets (2-)5-10(-14) mm long, 1-4 mm wide, oblanceolate to obovate, base cuneate to narrowly cuneate, apex rounded or obtuse, less hairy than the cauline leaflets, often sparsely strigose and glabrescent abaxially. Stipules in pairs, (1-)2-4(-10) mm long, up to 2 mm wide, narrowly lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, occasionally falcate. Inflorescences terminal on annual shoots, laxly (1-)2-4(-6)-flowered, the flowers mostly in pairs, opening ± simultaneously. Flowers very large, 15-30 mm long, yellow, tubular; pedicel 2-7 mm long; bracts large, 7-15 mm long, broadly lanceolate to ovate, leaf-like; bracteoles absent or very rarely present on the terminal pedicel only, 3-4 mm long, up to 0,5 mm wide. Calyx 10-14 mm long, tubular, slightly inflated, shorter than the corolla; lobes triangular, ± equal in length; lateral lobes fused a little higher in pairs; lower lobe not much narrower, densely hirsute or patently hirsute with reddish-brown hairs, glabrous inside. Standard large, 14-29 mm long, only the upper half of the blade slightly reflexed at anthesis; claw narrow, up to 10 mm long; blade up to 20 mm long, broadly ovate, dorsally densely hirsute on a well-defined triangular zone along the middle of the blade. Wing petals 15-22 mm long; claw 6-10 mm long, curved; blade 4-7 mm wide, only slightly auricled and pocketed; sculpturing exposed, upper basal and upper central, lamellate and lunate-lamellate, in 4-7 rows of 20-30 irregular reclined transcostal lunae, fading upper right central into a few intercostal lunae, a few transcostal lamellae occasionally present on the apex of the claw. Keel petals up to 20 mm long, shorter than wing petals; claw up to 10 mm long, curved; blade up to 10 mm long, 5 mm wide, semicircular, pointed, auriculate and pocketed near the base. Androecium as long as the keel, in a curved sheath open on the upper side; filaments flattened, ribbon-like; anthers dimorphic, alternately elongate, pointed, basifixed, 1.4-1.5 mm long and short, ovate, dorsifixed, 0.9 mm long, dorsifixed anthers on longer filaments at anthesis, carinal anther intermediate, on a yet longer filament. Pistil 14-19 mm long; ovary 6-9 mm long, lower side ± straight, upper side rounded, terete, sessile, densely hirsute; style merging gradually with ovary, basal half curving gently downwards, distal half curving gently upwards; stigma terminal, ovules ± 25, funicles short, as long as the ovules. Fruits 17 mm long, 9 mm wide, longer than and partly covered by the persistent calyx, broadly elliptic, much inflated laterally, dark brown to black, densely hairy but glabrescent with age, with small peg-like projections and irregular narrow warty protuberances along the upper suture. Seed and chromosome number not known.