Tephrosia procera Cowie

Scientific Description

Erect, tree or shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like). Stems terete, not spiny, glabrous; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, compound, alternate, continuous with stem, 125-155 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. Pedicel present, 6-7.5 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent. Calyx 7.5-9 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 13-16 mm long, uniformly coloured, orange; claws present; standard 10.5-15 mm long, hairy at least in part, not auriculate, wings 11-14 mm long, not auriculate, keel 9-12.5 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.6-0.7 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments united in an open sheath with one free stamen, 8-11 mm long. Ovary sessile or subsessile, hairy or glandular; style 9-14.2 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, not bearded, flattened at apex. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), 50-60 mm long, 3-4 mm wide, sessile or subsessile, constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, hairy, with simple hairs, not beaked. Flowers in January, February and March. Occurs in the Northern Botanical Province, in the Northern Kimberley, Victoria Bonaparte and Ord-Victorian-Plain IBRA regions.