Fabaceae
Dolichos

Dolichos brevidentatus Mackinder

First published in Kew Bull. 54: 421 (1999)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is S. DR Congo to Zambia. It is a perennial or tuberous geophyte and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

Leguminosae, B. Mackinder, R. Pasquet, R. Polhill and B. Verdcourt. Flora Zambesiaca 3:5. 2001

Morphology General Habit
Erect herb to 1.3 m tall, arising from a perennial tuberous or woody rootstock.
Morphology Stem
Stems annual, angled, sometimes ribbed, sparsely to densely white or golden pilose, young stems pale green becoming dark grey.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate; leaflets narrowly elliptic, elliptic or ovate, pubescent on both surfaces, reddish-black gland-dotted on the upper surface (×10 magnification), with black glands on the leaflet lower surface, hence the upper surface is paler; terminal leaflet 2–7.3 × 1.1–4 cm, lateral leaflets 1.6–6.6 × 0.8–3.2 cm; petiole 0.5–6.2 cm long; rhachis 0.5–2.5 cm long; petiolules 2–5 mm long; stipules 6–12 × 2–4 mm, lanceolate, pubescent, striate, usually caducous; stipels 2 mm long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescences consisting of short, lax axillary pseudoracemes, sometimes aggregated into axillary and terminal congested panicles; peduncle of the pseudoraceme 4–22 mm long; rhachis of the pseudoraceme 3–50 mm long; peduncle of the panicle 4–12 mm long; rhachis of the panicle 5–55 mm long; pedicels 1–6(8) mm long, white pilose; bracts absent; bracteoles minute, caducous.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Calyx pilose with gold coloured or white hairs; tube 3 mm long; lobes minute, 1–1.5 mm long, upper pair fused along most of their length.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Standard purple, sometimes tinged greenish or yellowish outside with deep purple veining inside, 5–9 × 5–8 mm, almost round; wings and keel pale green or yellow, tinged with purple.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Pistil
Ovary 4 mm long, linear-oblong, compressed, white pilose; style 3 mm long; stigma minute, terminal, capitate, penicillate.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Pods 1.5–3.1 × 0.6–1.6 cm, narrowly oblong, falcate, densely golden pilose, 4–5-seeded.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds reddish-brown speckled black, 4 × 3 × 2 mm; aril narrowly elliptic, creamy-white.
[FZ]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Flora Zambesiaca

    • Flora Zambesiaca
    • 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/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0