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This species is accepted, and its native range is Eritrea to Tanzania, SW. Arabian Peninsula.

[FSOM]

M. Thulin. Flora of Somalia, Vol. 1–4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Habit
Annual or perennial usually climbing herb; stems pilose with spreading to appressed hairs, later glabrescent
Leaflets
Leaflets 3, ± ovate, 1.2–10 x 1.1–6.5 cm, sometimes 3-lobed, appressed pilose
Stipules
Stipules lanceolate, bilobed and unequally prolonged at the base
Flowers
Flowers few to several on a rhachis 0.3–2 cm long; peduncle 1–45 cm long
Calyx
Calyx glabrous or pubescent; tube 2–3 mm long; lobes 1.5–17 mm long, ciliate
Corolla
Standard mauve to blue, 1–2.3 cm long, glabrous
Fruits
Pods erect, linear-cylindrical, 30–95 x 2–3 mm, with short curved tubercle-based hairs, 14–25-seeded.

[FTEA]

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

Habit
Annual or perennial climbing or trailing herb, more rarely suberect, 0·2–1·8 m. long.
Stem
Stems ridged, at first densely spreading pilose with usually rather tubercular-based hairs, later glabrescent.
Leaves
Leaflets 3, sometimes with a pale chevron mark, ovate or ovate-triangular in outline, 1·2–10 cm. long, 1·1–6·5 cm. wide, rounded or subacute to acuminate at the apex, rounded, truncate or subhastate at the base, sometimes distinctly 3-lobed, at first rather dense adpressed silvery pilose, later more sparsely pilose; petiole 1–8·5(–14) cm. long; rhachis 0·5–1·4(–1·9) cm. long; petiolules 1–4 mm. long; stipules lanceolate, 3–12 mm. long, bilobed and unequally prolonged at the base.
Inflorescences
Inflorescences axillary, subumbellate, few–several-flowered; rhachis 0·3–2 cm. long, with conspicuous glandular nodes; peduncle 1–45 cm. long, often uncinulate towards the apex; pedicels 2–4 mm. long; brac-teoles linear, 1·5–5 mm. long, deciduous.
Calyx
Calyx glabrous or pubescent or with longer tubercular based hairs; tube 2–3 mm. long; lobes deltoid to linear, 0·15–1·7 cm. long, often drawn out at the tips, the upper pair practically free so that the calyx appears equally 5-fid, the margins often conspicuously ciliate with long hairs.
Corolla
Standard mauve, pink-magenta or blue, yellow inside at base with darker purple guide lines, sometimes greenish outside, oblate, 1–2·3 cm. long and wide, glabrous; wings blue, mauve or pink; keel pale, tinged blue, sometimes twisted but beak not incurved.
Fruits
Pods erect, linear-cylindrical, 3–9·5 cm. long, 2–3 mm. wide, covered with very short, curved, tubercular-based hairs or small scale-like hairs, 14–25-seeded.
Seeds
Seeds dark red or grey with dense black mottling, narrowly oblong, angular, longest dimension 2·5–4·5 mm., shorter dimension 1·5–2·8 mm., 1·3–2·5 mm. thick; hilum small, subcentral; aril not developed.

[ILDIS]

International Legume Database and Information Service

Conservation
Not Threatened
Ecology
Africa: Somalia-Masai bushland and thicket, Lake Victoria regional transition zone; grasslands, Zanzibar-Inhambane regional transition zone; bushland and thicket., Somalia-Masai grasslands, Lake Victoria regional mosaic; bushland and thicket
Habit
Annual, Climbing/Not climbing, Herb

Native to:

Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zaïre

Extinct in:

Socotra

Vigna membranacea A.Rich. appears in other Kew resources:

Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
Dec 12, 1936 Schlieben, H.J. [2229], Tanzania K000263440 Unknown type material
Schimper [1439], Ethiopia K000263410 Unknown type material
Schimper [352], Ethiopia K000263411
Schimper [352], Ethiopia K000263413 Unknown type material
Petit [s.n.], Ethiopia K000263412 Unknown type material

First published in Tent. Fl. Abyss. 1: 219 (1847)

Accepted by

  • Darbyshire, I., Kordofani, M., Farag, I., Candiga, R. & Pickering, H. (eds.) (2015). The Plants of Sudan and South Sudan: 1-400. Kew publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Fischer, E., Rembold, K., Althof, A. & Obholzer, J. (2010). Annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Kakamega forest, Western province, Kenya Journal of East African Natural History 99: 129-226.
  • Miller, A.G. & Morris, M. (2004). Ethnoflora of Soqotra Archipelago: 1-759. The Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh.
  • Boulos, L. (1999). Flora of Egypt 1: 1-419. Al Hadara Publishing, Cairo.
  • Wood, J.R.I. (1997). A handbook of the Yemen Flora: 1-434. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Audru, J., Cesar, J. & Lebrun, J.-P. (1994). Les Plantes Vasculaires de la République de Djibouti. Flore Illustrée 1: 1-336. CIRAD, Départerment d'Elevage et de Médecine vétérinaire, Djibouti.
  • Hedberg, I. & Edwards, S. (eds.) (1989 publ. 1990). Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea 3: 1-659. The National Herbarium, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia & The Department of Systematic Botany, Upps.
  • Lock, J.M. (1989). Legumes of Africa a check-list: 1-619. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Literature

Kew Backbone Distributions

  • Darbyshire, I., Kordofani, M., Farag, I., Candiga, R. & Pickering, H. (eds.) (2015). The Plants of Sudan and South Sudan: 1-400. Kew publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Fischer, E., Rembold, K., Althof, A. & Obholzer, J. (2010). Annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Kakamega forest, Western province, Kenya Journal of East African Natural History 99: 129-226.
  • Miller, A.G. & Morris, M. (2004). Ethnoflora of Soqotra Archipelago: 1-759. The Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh.
  • Wood, J.R.I. (1997). A handbook of the Yemen Flora: 1-434. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Audru, J., Cesar, J. & Lebrun, J.-P. (1994). Les Plantes Vasculaires de la République de Djibouti. Flore Illustrée 1: 1-336. CIRAD, Départerment d'Elevage et de Médecine vétérinaire, Djibouti.
  • Lock, J.M. (1989). Legumes of Africa a check-list: 1-619. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Flora of Somalia

  • Flora Somalia, Vol 1, (1993) Author: by M. Thulin [updated by M. Thulin 2008]

Flora of Tropical East Africa

  • Verdc. in Kew Bulletin 24: 534 (1970).
  • Bak. f., Leguminosae of Tropical Africa: 410 (1929).
  • Bak. in Flora of Tropical Africa 2: 197 (1871).
  • A. Rich., Tent. Fl. Abyss. 1: 219 (1847).

International Legume Database and Information Service

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

Flora of Somalia
Flora of Somalia
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

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