Lotus arabicus Sol. ex L.

Species

Angiosperms > Fabales > Fabaceae > Lotus

Characteristics

Annual herb with few to many stems from the base. Stems spreading or erect, usually up to 65 cm long, rarely more, and up to 4.5(6) mm in diameter, yellowish, pilose with spreading or arching hairs. Leaves usually well spaced, 5-foliolate; leaf rhachis 2-8.5 mm long, rather broad; leaflets all similar, up to 29 x 16 mm, cuneate-obovate, obtuse to truncate at the apex, the lateral ones often inserted on the rhachis at different levels, pilose on both surfaces, the indumentum similar to that on the stem and branches. Umbels 1-3(4)-flowered; peduncle up to 50 mm long; foliage leaf on the peduncle 1-foliolate, or sometimes 2-3-foliolate; glands (bracts) at the base of the pedicels usually small, sometimes inconspicuous; pedicels 2-3 mm long. Hypanthium 1-1.3 mm, calyx tube 1.5-2.2 mm above the insertion of the stamens; calyx lobes 5-6 mm long, becoming 7-7.5 mm long in fruit, narrowly triangular or subulate. Corolla pink, sometimes with purple blotches or stripes, or sometimes reddish or purplish; standard c. 8 mm long, oblong-obovate, wedge-shaped at the base, the margins thickened and infolded near the base; wings 7-7.5 mm long with a narrow claw 2-2.2 mm long, the limb oblong, auriculate; keel as long as the wings, curved, pouched at the sides, the claws 2 mm long, free. Filament sheath c. 4 mm long; free parts of the shorter filaments ± two-thirds as long as those of the longer ones. Ovary c. 5 mm long, c. 22-23-ovulate, glabrous; style 3.5-4 mm long, the tip incurved. Pod 23-36 x 3-3.5 mm, terete to subtorulose, purplish-red, glabrous. Seeds usually c. 18, sometimes less, rarely more, elliptic to ± kidney-shaped, brown, usually mottled.
Life form annual
Growth form herb
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) -
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color -
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer rhizobia
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture 5-6
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

Usage

Uses forage medicinal
Edible -
Therapeutic use Poison (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
Germination duration (days) 14 - 30
Germination temperacture (C°) 12 - 18
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Distribution

Lotus arabicus world distribution map, present in Angola, Cameroon, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Morocco, Mali, Mozambique, Mauritania, Malawi, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Senegal, Chad, Tanzania, United Republic of, South Africa, and Zimbabwe

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:503470-1
WFO ID wfo-0000212157
COL ID 3W7XR
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Lotus arabicus Lotus borkouanus Lotus mossamedensis Lotus roseus Andaca arabica Lotus aegyptiacus Lotus arabicus var. microphyllus