Flora Zambesiaca

Taxon Detail

FZ volume:3 part:7 (2003) Leguminosae by various authors

(Search other Kew databases for: Sutherlandia frutescens)

Sutherlandia frutescens (L.) W.T. Aiton

Hort. Kew., ed. 2, 4: 327 (1812). —De Candolle, Prodr. 2: 273 (1825). —E. Meyer, Comment. Pl. Afr. Austr.: 121 (1836). —Harvey in F.C. 2: 212 (1862). —E.G. Baker, Legum. Trop. Africa: 264 (1929). —E. Phillips & R.A. Dyer in Revista Sudamer. Bot. 1: 73, fig. 1 (1934). —Rice & Compton, Wild Fls. Cape Good Hope: t. 38 (1951). —Schreiber in Merxmüller, Prodr. Fl. SW. Afrika, fam. 60: 113 (1970). —Lock, Leg. Afr. Check-list: 265 (1989). TAB. 3,7: 3. Type from South Africa (“Cape”).

Synonyms:

Colutea frutescens L.

Sp. Pl.: 723 (1753).

Distribution:

Botswana

SE: Kgatleng Distr., Mochudi, fl. i–iv.1914, Harbor in Rogers 6612 (K).

SW: Kgalagadi Distr., 1 km NE of Tshane, 24º01’S, 21º56’E, fl. & fr. 1.vii.1977, Skarpe S-188 (K; SRGH).

Range:

introduced in Kenya;  Lesotho;  Namibia;  South Africa; 

Habitat:

In low rainfall areas with low shrubs and sparse ground cover, on sandy soils, often on roadsides and disturbed areas c. 1000 m.

Description:

Shrub up to 1.7 m high. Stems usually erect, slightly ridged, densely appressed silvery-pubescent to glabrescent. Leaves 3–10 cm long; lateral leaflets in 3–8 pairs, alternate or opposite, 8–15 × 2.5–5 mm, linear-oblong to oblong, obtuse or rounded at the base, obtuse to slightly retuse, sometimes apiculate at the apex, glabrous or almost glabrous on the upper surface, usually thinly ± appressed silvery-pubescent on the lower surface; petiole 5–15 mm long, appressed-pubescent; rhachis sulcate on the upper side; stipules 1–2.5 × 0.3–0.5 mm, triangular and joined at the base, with a nerve near the middle. Racemes short, 3–6-flowered; peduncle 3–8 cm long, strigose; bracts 1.5–2.5 mm long, ovate to oblong; pedicels 5–10 mm long, strigose; bracteoles 2, at the apex of the pedicel, c. 1 mm long. Calyx tube 8–12 mm long, appressed pubescent or strigose outside, glabrous inside; lobes 1–3 mm long, ovate, sometimes acuminate, with short stiff sparse hairs outside. Corolla bright red or scarlet; standard 25–30 mm long including the claw, 8–14 mm wide, oblong, the claw c. 8 mm long, linear; wings 6–8 mm long, 1.5–2 mm wide, oblong, obtuse at the apex, obliquely clawed; keel longer than the standard, 30–35 mm long, c. 8 mm wide, oblong, curved, the petals auriculate with a claw 8–12 mm long, linear. Stamen tube 15–20 mm long; free parts of the filaments 5–8 mm long, filiform; anthers c. 0.8 mm long, oblong. Ovary stipitate, c. 15 mm long, oblong, semitranslucent, many-ovulate; style c. 15 mm long, bearded along the upper side towards the apex and with a tuft of hairs on the lower side just below the capitate stigma. Pod up to 5 × 2.5 cm, oblong to falcate, narrowed to the base into a stipe c. 5 mm long, and towards the apex to a beak terminated by the persistent curved style, inflated, membranaceous, indehiscent, 8–12-seeded. Seeds 2–3 mm long, subreniform-orbicular in outline, flattened, black.