Indigofera masaiensis J.B.Gillett

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

Morphology General Habit

Annual or short-lived perennial herb up to 25 cm. tall, with a well-developed taproot; branches usually ± prostrate, up to 50 cm. long, everywhere covered with white ± appressed biramous hairs; glandular erect multicellular hairs on stems usually under 0.5 mm. but sometimes up to 2 or 2.5 mm. long, on the leaves very short but usually extending to the leaflet-margins, on the pods usually under 0.5 mm. but sometimes up to 1.2 mm. long.

Morphology Leaves

Stipules linear, spreading, up to 6 mm. long; leaf-rhachis prolonged beyond lateral leaflets, up to 4.5 cm. long including a petiole longer than the basal leaflets; leaflets 7–11, or very rarely 13, elliptic-oblanceolate, 2–2.6 times as long as wide, up to 10 mm. long and 4 mm. wide.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Racemes 6–20-flowered, usually about as long as the subtending leaf, the peduncle 1–2 cm. long, equal to, or half as long as, the rest of the rhachis.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx

Calyx deeply divided, 0.3–0.8 times as long as the filaments, which are 5–7 mm. long.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Style

Style ± 3 mm. long, bent through 90° a little below the middle.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Pod spreading, straight, up to 17 mm. long, about 1.5 mm. wide, 11–13-seeded; endocarp spotted.

Habitat

Dry stony ground, sometimes in areas rich in soda, in semi-desert, dry grassland or the drier types of Acacia, Commiphora bushland; 660–2200 m.; rainfall 300–700 mm.

Distribution

K1 K3 K6 T1 T2 not known elsewhere