Vigna trilobata (L.) Verdc.

Scientific Description

Prostrate,spreading or scrambling, herb. Stems terete, not spiny, glabrous; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, compound, alternate, not continuous with stem, 55-100 mm long, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent, pinnately arranged, terminal leaflet present, stalked; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves, 17-20 mm long, without glands, ribless. Pedicel present, 0.5 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present but early deciduous. Calyx 4-5.5 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 6-7 mm long, uniformly coloured, yellow; claws present; standard 6-6.4 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 5-5.5 mm long, keel 5.5-6 mm long, not beaked. Stamens ten, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments united in an open sheath with one free stamen, 5.5-7 mm long. Ovary stipitate, hairy or glandular; style 7 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), stipitate, constricted between the seeds, flat or compressed, not beaked. Flowers in April, June and July. Occurs in the Northern Botanical Province, in the Victoria Bonaparte IBRA regions.