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Crotalaria crispata Benth.
Kimberley Horse Poison

Reference
Fl.Austral. 2:179 (1864)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Annual or perennial, herb, to 0.5 m high. Fl. yellow, Feb to Oct. Loamy or sandy soils. Near rivers & swamps.

Amanda Spooner, Descriptive Catalogue, 25 May 2003

Scientific Description

Erect, herb. Stems terete, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, simple, alternate, continuous with stem, 10-30 mm long, 3.5-7 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. Pedicel present, 2-3.5 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent, 4.3-5 mm long, hairy, not striate. Calyx 7-8.5 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 10-11 mm long, uniformly coloured, yellow; claws present; standard 9-9.5 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 6-6.8 mm long, not auriculate, keel 8-9.5 mm long, beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 1.7 mm long; filaments united in an open sheath. 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), stipitate, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, hairy, with simple hairs, not beaked. Flowers in February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September and October. Occurs in the Northern and Eremaean Botanical Province, in the Great Sandy Desert, Northern Kimberley, Victoria Bonaparte, Central Kimberley, Ord-Victorian-Plain and Dampierland IBRA regions.

C. Hollister and K.R. Thiele, 24 October 2023

Distribution

IBRA Regions
Central Kimberley, Dampierland, Great Sandy Desert, Northern Kimberley, Ord Victoria Plain, Tanami, Victoria Bonaparte.
IBRA Subregions
Berkeley, Keep, McLarty, Mitchell, Pentecost, Pindanland, Purnululu, South Kimberley Interzone.
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Broome, Derby-West Kimberley, East Pilbara, Halls Creek, Wyndham-East Kimberley.