Psoralea ivumba C.H.Stirt., A.Bello & Muasya

Species

Angiosperms > Fabales > Fabaceae > Psoralea

Characteristics

A virgate slender shrub up to 2.5 m tall, reseeder. Stems erect, single, branching from lower portion, arching to erect, upper branches spreading, brownish green to tan with storied white lenticels when young, becoming rough and grey with age, branch scars prominent, branches and twigs angular, ridged. Seasonal shoots glabrous to glabrescent, bright green. Leaves 7-11-foliolate, softly pilose, crowded at the end of bare branches on old shoots, or distributed along the branches on younger shoots, patent, petiolate; leaflets 18-30 x 0.2-0.3 mm, filiform and straight to narrowly linear and curved, somewhat flattened, adaxial surface more convex, abaxial surface grooved, apex acuminate, dark green, glandular, cavities slightly sunken in fresh state, terminal leaflet second longest, basal pair longer or equal to terminal, three uppermost digitately inserted; petioles 3-7 mm long, shorter than terminal leaflet; rachis 15-18 mm long; stipules 3-4 x 1-2 mm, persistent, shorter than petiole, narrowly triangular, fused for half their length on the stalked ridge overlapping the flanges, teeth caducous, erect, bases persistent, becoming woody with age, margins out curled, subulate, quickly senescent. Inflorescences borne in uppermost axils of seasonal shoots, pseudo-capitate, partly hidden within the subtended leaves, congested, 5-6 flowers per axil, pedunculate, pedicel absent; peduncles stout and rigid, 6-15 mm long, densely white long-haired; cupulum bilobed, lobes unequally developed, lower lobe partly cleft, carinal lobe longer, 3 mm long, tube 2 mm long, subulate, acuminate, sparsely white hairy, margins ciliate with few black hairs. Flowers 15-16 mm long, bright blue to purple, very strongly scented, subtended by a 2 mm cucullate ciliate bract, clasping the oldest flower. Calyx 8-9 mm long, tube 5-6 x 5 mm, half length of flower, papery, shaggy white-haired, pale green; lobes unequally developed, pale yellowish green, shorter than the tube, carinal longest, 4 mm long, ovate-acute, vexillar teeth fused for about one third their length; margins and inner face of lobe with few black-hairs, inner face of tube glabrous; densely glandular, glands constant in size, whitish. Standard petal 11-12 x 9-10 mm, very broadly ovate, purple in upper half becoming mauve towards margins with a white M-shaped nectar guide and a single 2 mm long purple flash situated between and above the free swollen appendages at the top rim of the claw, auricles present, swollen, veins coloured; claw 2-3 mm long, channelled, sharply recurved at anthesis. Wing petals 10-11 x 5-6 mm, longer than keel petals, pale mauve, blade folded and puckered along its mid-line; sculpturing present, basal, comprised of2-4 arcuate rows of 9-11 transcostal lamellae; claw 3-4 mm long. Keel 8-9 x 2-4 mm, blade ridged for 3 mm from base, white apex broadly triangular; claw 3-4 mm long. Androecium 10 mm long, tenth stamen lightly attached. Pistil 10 mm long, stipitate, ovary 2 mm long, glabrous with club-shaped glands near apex only, style 6 mm long straight to the point of flexure then curved upwards, widest beyond point of flexure, height of curvature of 2.5 mm, stigma capitate. Fruits unknown. Seeds unknown.
Life form -
Growth form shrub
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Sexuality hermaphrodite
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Mature height (meter) 2.5
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Nitrogen fixer rhizobia
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Environment

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Soil texture 5-6
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Usage

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Edible -
Therapeutic use -
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Cultivation

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Distribution

Psoralea ivumba world distribution map, present in South Africa

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77165945-1
WFO ID wfo-0001420980
COL ID -
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Psoralea ivumba