Lotus wildii J.B.Gillett

Leguminosae, various authors. Flora Zambesiaca 3:7. 2003

Morphology General Habit

Undershrub from a woody rootstock.

Morphology Stem

Stems erect and up to 60 cm tall, or procumbent and up to 150 cm long, up to 2.5 mm in diameter, woody below, with ± densely appressed or ascending white or yellowish hairs up to 0.5 mm long, glabrescent, the epidermis at first cream-coloured, later dark purple or blackish when dry; internodes usually up to 35 mm long (longer in plants growing in shade).

Morphology Leaves

Leaves 5-foliolate, usually only the leaf base with stipules and rhachis persisting on older branches; rhachis 1.5–2 mm long (very rarely up to 3 mm), always less than half the length of the basal leaflets; basal leaflets shorter than the lateral and apical ones, symmetrical or slightly asymmetrical at the base, 5–10 × 2–3.5 mm, oblong-elliptic or obovate, obtuse at the base; lateral and apical leaflets up to 15 × 8 mm, the apical one a little narrower than the lateral, cuneate-obovate; all leaflets obtuse or rounded and apiculate at the apex, pubescent on upper and lower surfaces, sometimes sparsely so, with appressed or ascending short hairs, densely marked with purple dots on upper surface and purple dots or wavy lines beneath; stipular glands large, conspicuous, dark purple or blackish.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Umbels 3–5(7)-flowered; peduncle 10–50(65) mm long, strigose; foliage leaf on the peduncle 3-foliolate; pedicels 1.5–2 mm long, strigose; glands (bracts) at the base of the pedicels blackish, pronounced.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx

Calyx appressed pubescent; hypanthium c. 0.7 mm long, calyx tube c. 2 mm above the insertion of the stamens; calyx lobes 1.8–2.5 mm long, triangular-acuminate.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla

Corolla white or cream-coloured, occasionally pale mauve, the standard with reddish or purplish veining, the keel with purplish tip; standard c. 8 × 4.5 mm, slightly violin-shaped, wedge-shaped at the base, the margins thickened and infolded over 3–4 mm from the base; wings with a curved claw 2–2.5 mm long, the blade 6–7 × 3.5–4 mm, oblong, laterally pouched, auriculate; keel as long as the wings, curved, pointed, the claw c. 2 mm long.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens Filaments

Filament sheath c. 5 mm long, often papillose near the base; free parts of the shorter filaments c. 2 mm long, those of the longer filaments c. 3 mm long.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Pistil

Ovary c. 5 mm long, glabrous, 18–24-ovulate; style 3.5 mm long, slightly curved upwards.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Pod up to 28 × 2.5 mm, reddish-brown to greyish-brown.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds

Seeds 11 or less, c. 1.5 mm long, ovoid, dark grey or greyish-brown.