Crotalaria alata D.Don

Scientific Description

Prostrate,spreading or scrambling, herb. Stems winged, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, simple, alternate, not continuous with stem, 8-20 mm long, 1-5 mm wide, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves, 1(-4) mm long, without glands, ribless. Pedicel present, 3-3.5 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent, 2.5-5 mm long, hairy, not striate. Calyx 8-9 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 10-11 mm long, uniformly coloured, yellow; claws present; standard 8-9 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 7-8.5 mm long, not auriculate, keel 9-10 mm long, beaked, not auriculate, hairy at least in part. Stamens ten; anthers 1.8-2 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments united in an open sheath, 4-5.5 mm long. Ovary sessile or subsessile, hairy or glandular; style 8-9 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), 22-35 mm long, 11-18 mm wide, stipitate, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, glabrous, not beaked. Flowers in January, February, March, April, May, June, July and August. Occurs in the Northern Botanical Province, in the Northern Kimberley, Victoria Bonaparte, Central Kimberley, Ord-Victorian-Plain and Dampierland IBRA regions.