Lotus wildii J.B.Gillett

Species

Angiosperms > Fabales > Fabaceae > Lotus

Characteristics

Leaves 5-foliolate, usually only the leaf base with stipules and rhachis persisting on older branches; rhachis 1.5–2 mm long (very rarely up to 3 mm), always less than half the length of the basal leaflets; basal leaflets shorter than the lateral and apical ones, symmetrical or slightly asymmetrical at the base, 5–10 × 2–3.5 mm, oblong-elliptic or obovate, obtuse at the base; lateral and apical leaflets up to 15 × 8 mm, the apical one a little narrower than the lateral, cuneate-obovate; all leaflets obtuse or rounded and apiculate at the apex, pubescent on upper and lower surfaces, sometimes sparsely so, with appressed or ascending short hairs, densely marked with purple dots on upper surface and purple dots or wavy lines beneath; stipular glands large, conspicuous, dark purple or blackish.
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Corolla white or cream-coloured, occasionally pale mauve, the standard with reddish or purplish veining, the keel with purplish tip; standard c. 8 × 4.5 mm, slightly violin-shaped, wedge-shaped at the base, the margins thickened and infolded over 3–4 mm from the base; wings with a curved claw 2–2.5 mm long, the blade 6–7 × 3.5–4 mm, oblong, laterally pouched, auriculate; keel as long as the wings, curved, pointed, the claw c. 2 mm long.
Stems erect and up to 60 cm tall, or procumbent and up to 150 cm long, up to 2.5 mm in diameter, woody below, with ± densely appressed or ascending white or yellowish hairs up to 0.5 mm long, glabrescent, the epidermis at first cream-coloured, later dark purple or blackish when dry; internodes usually up to 35 mm long (longer in plants growing in shade).
Umbels 3–5(7)-flowered; peduncle 10–50(65) mm long, strigose; foliage leaf on the peduncle 3-foliolate; pedicels 1.5–2 mm long, strigose; glands (bracts) at the base of the pedicels blackish, pronounced.
Calyx appressed pubescent; hypanthium c. 0.7 mm long, calyx tube c. 2 mm above the insertion of the stamens; calyx lobes 1.8–2.5 mm long, triangular-acuminate.
Filament sheath c. 5 mm long, often papillose near the base; free parts of the shorter filaments c. 2 mm long, those of the longer filaments c. 3 mm long.
Ovary c. 5 mm long, glabrous, 18–24-ovulate; style 3.5 mm long, slightly curved upwards.
Seeds 11 or less, c. 1.5 mm long, ovoid, dark grey or greyish-brown.
Pod up to 28 × 2.5 mm, reddish-brown to greyish-brown.
Undershrub from a woody rootstock.
Life form perennial
Growth form shrub
Growth support -
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.6
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 -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) -

Usage

Uses -
Edible -
Therapeutic use -
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 wildii world distribution map, present in Mozambique and Zimbabwe

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:503961-1
WFO ID wfo-0000212260
COL ID 3W88V
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Lotus wildii