Lotus cruentus Court
Redflower Lotus

Scientific Description

Twining or climbing plants, herb. Stems terete, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, compound, alternate, not continuous with stem, 10-30 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 apparently absent even from the youngest leaves. Pedicel present, 0.5-1 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent. Calyx 8-8.5 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 8-14 mm long, multicoloured, mostly pink or red, with some pink or red spots, streaks or blotches; standard 8-11 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 7-11 mm long, auriculate, keel 7-12.5 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.3-0.5 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments united in an open sheath with one free stamen, 7-10.5 mm long. Ovary sessile or subsessile, glabrous; style 6.3-13 mm long, glabrous, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), 30-40 mm long, 2.5-3 mm wide, sessile or subsessile, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, glabrous, not beaked. Flowers in January, March, April, July, August, September and October. Occurs in the Eremaean and South-West Botanical Province, in the Great Sandy Desert, Pilbara, Carnarvon, Gascoyne, Little Sandy Desert, Gibson Desert, Central Ranges, Yalgoo, Murchison, Coolgardie, Nullarbor and Avon Wheatbelt IBRA regions.