Zornia glochidiata Rchb. ex Dc.

Erect or decumbent annual herb (rarely perennial) (4)10-70 cm tall. Stems sometimes slightly woody at the base, glabrous, glabrescent or puberulous. Leaves 2-foliolate; upper leaflets 6-45 x 2-14 mm, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, acute and mucronulate at the apex, rounded at the base, glabrescent or pubescent beneath and sparsely glandular-punctate; lower leaflets mostly relatively broader; petiole 4-22 mm long; petiolules c. 1 mm long; stipules 5-18 mm long including the 1-7 mm long spur, 1-3 mm wide, narrowly lanceolate or lanceolate, glabrous and very sparsely punctate. Inflorescences 4-20 cm long; peduncle 1-5 cm long; bracts 5-13 x 2-7 mm, ovate or elliptic, acute, ciliate but otherwise glabrous, with no or very few glands. Calyx tube 1.5 mm long; lobes 0.5-1.5 mm long, glabrous. Standard white, yellow or orange, veined with red or pink, or mauve or crimson often paler within and yellow at base, 4.5-6 x 3-4.5 mm; wings yellow, pink or crimson; keel mostly greenish, sometimes orange to vinaceous at the apex. Fruits 11-17 mm long of 3-5 articles; each article 2-3 mm long and broad, not glandular but covered with numerous barbellate spreading bristles 0.8-2.5 mm long. Seeds brown, 1.5 x 1.1 x 0.5 mm, compressed reniform; hilum small, eccentric, the rim raised at each end.

It is a tropical plant. It grows in dry sandy locations in West Africa. In southern Africa it grows between 100-1,500 m altitude. It grows in areas with an annual rainfall above 550 mm. It can grow in arid places. It grows in the Sahel.

The leaves are pounded and eaten in sauces and with rice or couscous.

Can be grown by seedlings.