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This species is accepted, and its native range is Ethiopia to E. Central & E. Tropical Africa.

[FTEA]

Leguminosae, J. B. Gillett, R. M. Polhill & B. Verdcourt. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1971

Habit
Erect or decumbent perennial herb, 7·6–30 cm. tall, from a softly woody carrot-like or fusiform rootstock up to 25 cm. long.
Stem
Stems with dense to scattered spreading hairs.
Leaves
Leaflets 3, oblong or elliptic to linear-lanceolate, 0·8–7 cm. long, 0·3–3·2 cm. wide, acute to rounded at the apex, rounded at the base, glabrous to pubescent or pilose on both surfaces, often rather characteristically margined with short hairs, ±3-nerved from the base; venation raised and reticulate on both surfaces; petiole 1·5–8 cm. long; rhachis 2·5–9 mm. long; petiolules 0·5–1·5 mm. long; stipules oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate, 4–7 mm. long, somewhat bilobed at the base, veined.
Inflorescences
Racemes axillary, (1–)2–several-flowered, subumbellate; peduncle 3·5–20 cm. long, somewhat thickened towards the apex; pedicels 1–2 mm. long; bracteoles subpersistent, minute, ± 1·5 mm. long, 1-nerved.
Calyx
Calyx-tube glabrous or hairy, truncate at the base in fruit, nerved, 2–3·5 mm. long; lobes deltoid, 2–3·5 mm. long, ciliate or minutely ciliolate, sometimes slightly tuberculate, the upper pair joined for two-thirds or more of their length to form a bifid lip.
Corolla
Standard pale creamy-yellow, green with or without mauve basal stripes or entirely mauve, obovate, 1–1·4 cm. long, 0·8–1·3 cm. wide, emarginate, glabrous; wings green with mauve margins; keel green, elongated, shaped very much like the end of a canoe.
Fruits
Pods ± erect, linear-cylindrical, 4–6 cm. long, 2–3 mm. wide, yellowish pubescent or covered with very minute scale-like hairs, ± 17–20-seeded.
Seeds
Seeds brown, sometimes faintly mottled with black, subcylindrical or rectangular, longest dimension 1·8–2·5 mm., shorter dimensions 1·5–2 mm.; hilum minute, central or eccentric; aril not developed.

[ILDIS]

International Legume Database and Information Service

Conservation
Not Threatened
Ecology
Africa: Afromontane grassland, Lake Victoria regional transition zone; grasslands, Somalia-Masai grasslands, Somalia-Masai wooded grasslands.
Habit
Perennial, Climbing/Not climbing, Herb

Native to:

Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zaïre

Vigna friesiorum Harms appears in other Kew resources:

Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
Jan 1, 1968 Harvey, C. [64], Kenya K000058823
Hepper, F.N. [6829], Kenya K000058824
Gilbert, M.G. [5143], Kenya K000058828
Socst, L.V. [211], Kenya K000058822
Padwa, H.S. [123], Kenya K000058829

First published in Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 10: 89 (1927)

Accepted by

  • Germishuizen, G. & Meyer, N.L. (eds.) (2003). Plants of Southern Africa an annotated checklist Strelitzia 14: 1-1231. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
  • Lock, J.M. (1989). Legumes of Africa a check-list: 1-619. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Literature

Kew Backbone Distributions

  • Lock, J.M. (1989). Legumes of Africa a check-list: 1-619. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Flora of Tropical East Africa

  • Verdc. in Kew Bulletin 24: 537 (1970).
  • Bak. f., Leguminosae of Tropical Africa: 400 (1929).
  • Harms in Notizblatt des Botanischen Gartens und Museums zu Berlin-Dahelm 10: 89 (1927).

International Legume Database and Information Service

  • Gillett, J. B. et al. (1971). Papilionoideae. In: Fl. Trop. E. Africa, Milne-Redhead & Polhill

Flora of Tropical East Africa
Flora of Tropical East Africa
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

International Legume Database and Information Service
International Legume Database and Information Service (ILDIS) V10.39 Nov 2011
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Kew Backbone Distributions
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2021. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2021. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0