| Home | > | List of families | > | Fabaceae subfamily Papilionoideae | > | Crotalaria | > | nigricans |
| Synonyms: | |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Prostrate to erect perennial herb, much branched, branches up to 1.5 m long, with fine spreading hairs; leaves 3-foliolate, petioles 2-6 mm long; leaflets 1-3 x 0.5-1.2 cm, oblanceolate to oblong-obovate, sparsely pubescent above and thinly hairy beneath; stipules 3-6 mm long, lanceolate; flowers in 4-12 sessile or shortly pedunculate terminal heads; bracts 4-9 mm, ovate; calyx 4 lobed, 8-13 mm long, almost enclosing the corolla, pubescent, lobes 2-3 times as long as tube; standard circular-ovate to oblate, usually pale yellow, reddish-tinged and puberulous along the midvein outside towards the apex; wings longer than keel; keel 8-10 mm long, rounded about the middle and with a short incurved beak; pod enveloped by calyx, sessile, 7-10 mm long, ellipsoid, spreading hairy, c. 4-8 seeded; seeds c. 2.5 mm long, obliquely cordiform, smooth, mauvish-brown. Var. erecta differs in having bushy, more or less erect stems forming a clump 0.7-1.5 m tall and inflorescences well above the ground. |
| Type location: |
Tanzania |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | nigricans: blackish, presumably referring to the tendency of the plants to turn blackish upon drying in the press. erecta: erect or upright |
| Habitat: | Miombo woodland, particularly sandy places where a little additional water collects and in grasslands by streams and on flood plains. |
| Altitude range: | |
| Flowering time: | Apr - Sep |
| Worldwide distribution: | DRC (Katanga), Tanzania and Zambia. |
| Zambian distribution (Flora Zambesiaca): | W |
| Zambian distribution (Provinces): | Nw |
| Growth form(s): | Perennial. |
| Endemic status: | |
| Red data list status: | |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Martins, E.S. et al. (2003). Papilionoideae Flora Zambesiaca 3(7) Pages 130 - 132. |
| Home | > | List of families | > | Fabaceae subfamily Papilionoideae | > | Crotalaria | > | nigricans |