Polhillia obsoleta (Harv.) B.-e.van Wyk

Species

Angiosperms > Fabales > Fabaceae > Polhillia

Characteristics

Erect much branched shrub 50-70 cm high. Stipules becoming bifurcate in leaves that subtend inflorescences, sericeous. Leaflets 4-10 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide, subsessile, equal, narrowly obovate, somewhat recurved, base cuneate, apex obtuse, conduplicate, rarely flattened, sericeous. Inflorescences terminal on short lateral branches, 1-3-flowered. Flowers 10 mm long, bright yellow, each subtended by a very small erect bract, ebracteolate; pedicel 3-5 mm long. Calyx 4 mm long; triangular teeth shorter than the 3 mm tube; vexillar lobes less fused than the lateral and keel lobes; finely pubescent outside, glabrous inside. Standard 8.5 mm long, up to 9.5 mm wide, claw 3 mm long, very broadly ovate, auricles and appendages absent, apex emarginate, back silky. Wing petals 0.5 mm long, 4 mm wide, claw 3 mm long, cultrate, sparsely >. pubescent, equal in length to keel; sculpturing upper basal and left central, finely lamellate-lunulate; auriculate. Keel petals 9.5 mm long, 3.5 mm wide, fused from apex for one-third their length along the lower margins; auriculate, pocketed near the claw junction. Androecium 8-9 mm long, stamens sheathed, slit on upper side. Pistil 7-8 mm long, 3.5 mm wide, subsessile, compressed and most hairy above and below, sparsely laterally; style erect, glabrous, forward sloping, height of curvature 2.5-3 mm; stigma minute, fibrillose. Fruit 15-20 mm long, 4-5 mm wide, narrowly oblong, plicate, somewhat woody, often persisting on the plant for up to six months before dropping to the ground; finely pubescent. Seeds 3 mm long and wide, testa simple-reticulate, sheen dull, khaki to greenish brown, reniform, transverse section elliptic; hilum elliptic, recessed, off-centre; rim aril reduced, visible; micropyle deltoid, hidden, adjacent to hilum, tracheid bar narrowly ovate; vesturing of tracheoids unbranched, micoid; cotyledons with inflexed embryonic axis; cotyledon-radicle junction plain, radicle greater than half the length of seed, endosperm present.
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Erect much-branched shrub 50-70 cm high. Stipules fused and wholly adnate to the petiole and completely sheathing branches, becoming bifurcate in leaves that subtend inflorescences, sericeous. Leaves trifoliolate, very shortly petiolate. Leaflets 4-10 mm long, 1.5-2.0 mm wide, subsessile, equal in size, narrowly obovate, somewhat recurved, base cuneate, apex obtuse, conduplicate, rarely flattened, sericeous. Inflorescences axillary, 1-3-flowered, borne on short lateral branches. Flowers 10 mm long, bright yellow (less yellow than in L. cytisoides, however), each subtended by a very small erect bract, ebracteolate; pedicel 3-5 mm long. Calyx 4 mm long; triangular teeth shorter than the 3 mm tube, vexillar lobes less connate than lateral and keel lobes; finely pubescent outside, glabrous inside. Standard 8.5 mm long, up to 9.5 mm wide, claw 3 mm long, broadly ovate, auricles and appendages absent, apex emarginate, back silky. Wing petals 10.5 mm long, 4.0 mm wide, claw 3 mm long, cultrate, sparsely pubescent, equal in length to keel; sculpturing upper basal and left central, finely lamellate-lunate; auriculate. Keel petals fused, 9.5 mm long, 3.5 mm wide, somewhat pubescent. Pistil 7-8 mm long; ovary 5 mm long, subsessile, flattened and most hairy above and below, sparsely laterally style erect, glabrous, height of curvature 2.5-3.0 mm; stigma minute, very finely penicillate. Stamens monadelphous, sheath split adaxially; anthers dimorphic, basifixed anthers narrowly ovate and 2.5 mm long, dorsifixed anthers rounded and 1.3 mm long. Fruit 15-20 mm long, 4-5 mm wide, plicate, indehiscent, somewhat woody, persisting on the plant for more than a year. Seeds 3 mm wide and long, reniform, greenish brown.
Like P. pallens but leaves greener, flowers brighter and pods finely hairy, conspicuously pleated.
Life form perennial
Growth form shrub
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention -
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.5 - 0.7
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer rhizobia
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture 3-6
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) -

Usage

Uses -
Edible -
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

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

Distribution

Polhillia obsoleta world distribution map, present in South Africa

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:970660-1
WFO ID wfo-0000468357
COL ID 4KXL3
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Lebeckia waltersii Aspalathus sericea Polhillia obsoleta Genista obsoleta Argyrolobium obsoletum Polhillia waltersii