Eriosema flexuosum Staner

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Picture: Bart Wursten
Below Dam 2, Nyika National Park.

Picture: Bart Wursten
Chelinda road before Chozi turn-off, Nyika National Park

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Synonyms:
Common names:
Frequency:
Status:	Native
Description:	Prostrate, sometimes mat-forming, perennial herb, with a branched stem 20–50 cm long, growing from tuberous, woody rootstock 1–5 cm long. Stems slender with short and longer yellow or brown bristly hairs. Leaves 1-foliolate, appressed to the ground, ovate or almost round, up to 7.5 cm long , cordate at the base, more or less hairless to sparsely hairy above, pubescent on the veins or more rarely densely velvety and with scattered glands beneath, venation prominent beneath; margins ciliate; petiole c. 2 mm long; stipules triangular-lanceolate, 3–5 mm long, hairy. Inflorescences axillary, 1–3 cm long on peduncle up to 14 cm long, densely covered with short hairs, spreading stiff rusty hairs and glands; bracts linear-lanceolate, 5 mm long, deciduous. Calyx 3–5 mm long, densely covered with short whitish hairs, stiff spreading rusty hairs and glands; lobes linear-lanceolate, 2–4 times as long as the tube. Flowers cream-coloured to yellow, often with reddish-brown veins. Pods ovate-oblong, 8–10 mm long, apiculate, covered with short pubescence, glands and long rusty hairs.
Type location:	Tanzania
Notes:
Derivation of specific name:	flexuosum: flexuous, zigzag or wavy, probably referring to the prostrate stems.
Habitat:	Montane grassland, in sandy soils along roadsides, sometimes on termite mounds in woodland on granite rocky hillsides.
Altitude range:	1650 - 2250 m
Flowering time:
Worldwide distribution:	DRC, Burundi, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia.
Zambian distribution (Flora Zambesiaca):	N,E
Zambian distribution (Provinces):	Mc
Growth form(s):
Endemic status:
Red data list status:
Insects associated with this species:
Spot characters:	Display spot characters for this species
Content last updated:	Saturday 13 April 2019
Literature:	Burrows, J.E. & Willis, C.K. (eds) (2005). Plants of the Nyika Plateau Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 31 SABONET, Pretoria Page 159. Mackinder, B. et al. (2001). Papilionoideae Flora Zambesiaca 3(5) Pages 240 - 241.

Other sources of information about Eriosema flexuosum:

Our websites:

Flora of Burundi: Eriosema flexuosum
Flora of Malawi: Eriosema flexuosum

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Eriosema flexuosum
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Eriosema flexuosum
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Eriosema flexuosum
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Eriosema flexuosum
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Eriosema flexuosum
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Eriosema flexuosum
JSTOR Plant Science: Eriosema flexuosum
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Eriosema flexuosum
Plants of the World Online: Eriosema flexuosum
Tropicos: Eriosema flexuosum
Wikipedia: Eriosema flexuosum