Erect semi-woody annual or biennial plant, 1–2.5 m. tall, glabrous throughout except for a few scattered hairs on the very young leaves, a few woolly hairs on the margin of the calyx and the pubescent tip of the style; stems sometimes sparsely aculeate.. Stipules linear-lanceolate, erect, up to 11 mm. long, caducous; leaf-rhachis nearly always with prickles, especially on its lower surface towards the base, up to 40 cm. long; leaflets in 30–60 pairs, up to 22 mm. long and 5 mm. wide.. Racemes 3–18-flowered, the rhachis up to 5 cm. long, including a peduncle of up to 1.5 cm. which is not aculeate; pedicels 6–11 mm. long.. Receptacle 1 mm., calyx-tube 4 mm., teeth broadly triangular, slightly acuminate, 1 mm. long.. Blade of standard ± orbicular, 12–13 mm. long, 13–16 mm. wide; outer margin of appendages rounded with no trace of a free tip (fig. 49/10b, p. 332); claw 4 mm. long; blade of wing 10–12 mm. long, 4–5 mm. wide, broadly toothed, not hooked, at the base; claw 3–4 mm. long; blade of keel 5–6 mm. long, 3 mm. wide at the base and 7–9 mm. near the apex; basal tooth at an angle of 80°–100° with the 7–8 mm. long claw (fig. 49/10a).. Filament-sheath 11–13(–15) mm., free parts 4–6 mm., anthers 0.8 mm. long.. Ovary glabrous, 25–35-ovulate; style 5 mm. long, pubescent towards the tip.. Pod ± erect, slightly curved, not torulose, 14–20 cm. long, 3–5 mm. wide, ± 3 mm. thick at the centre and 2 mm. at the sutures, 20–30-seeded; septa 5–7 mm. apart.. Seeds brown, not mottled, 4–4.5 × 2–3 × 2 mm.; hilum 0.5 mm. long.
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An annual herb or small shrub. It grows 1-4 m high. There are some subspecies. The stems are pithy and 15 mm thick. Young plants can have some hairs. The leaves are 19 cm long with 15-22 pairs of leaflets. These are 3 cm long and 6 mm wide. There are 3-15 flowers in a group. The fruit is a curved pod 15-22 cm long. There are 25-30 seeds. The seeds are brown with small violet dots. They are 3-3.5 mm long.
Yellow flowers, the standard purple-spotted
It is a tropical plant. It grows in sandy soils. It can grow in salty soils. It grows in areas with an annual rainfall between 500-1,400 mm. It grows in areas with seasonal temperature fluctuations between 2°-40°C. It grows between 200-1,500 m above sea level. It grows in temporary swamps. It can grow in arid places.
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Temporary swamps; Sorghum and Arachis fields; river-sides; humid places; sandy-clayey hollows; roadsides; deep soil on plateau; damp sandy thickets; at elevations up to 1,200 metres.
Usually by water or introduced.
The seeds have a strong pea like flavour. They have a slight aroma. They can be cooked and eaten. The flowers are boiled as a potherb and also dried into cakes and eaten later. The seeds are boiled and then fermented for 2 days with the bark of Lonchicarpus laxiflorus and the pulp of Boabab fruit. This is used as a condiment and sauce.
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