Tephrosia valleculata Cowie

Scientific Description

Erect, shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like). Stems terete, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, compound, alternate, not continuous with stem, 20-40 mm long, glabrous, 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. Pedicel present, 1.5-2 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent, 1.5-2 mm long, hairy, not striate. Calyx 6-7 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 10-10.5 mm long, uniformly coloured, orange; claws present; standard 8-9 mm long, hairy at least in part, not auriculate, wings 7-7.6 mm long, not auriculate, keel 7-7.5 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments united in an open sheath with one free stamen, 5-6.7 mm long. Ovary sessile or subsessile, hairy or glandular; style 7.5-9 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, not bearded, flattened at apex. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), sessile or subsessile, constricted between the seeds, flat or compressed, not beaked. Flowers in April, May, June, July, August and September. Occurs in the Northern Botanical Province, in the Northern Kimberley and Dampierland IBRA regions. Conservation Code Priority Three (P3).