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Crotalaria speciosa
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Family:
FABACEAE/LEGUMINOSAE (Subfam.: Papilionoideae)
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Citation: Crotalaria speciosa Heyne ex Roth, Nov. Pl. Sp. 336. 1821; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 2: 73. 1876; Sanjappa, Legumes Ind. 130. 1992; Ansari, Crotalaria India 139. 2008.
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Malayalam Name(s):
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
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Description:
Erect golden silky hairy herbs or undershrubs, up to 40 cm high; stems woody, branched from the base; branches erecto-patent, 2-4 mm thick. Leaves simple, 2-4.3 x 0.8-1.5 cm, elliptic-oblong, linear-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, rounded at base, obtuse or rounded and mucronate at apex, densely hairy on both surfaces or sometimes less hairy above; lateral veins about 7 pairs; petioles 1-3 mm long; stipules subulate, 1-4 mm long, long hairy. Inflorescence terminal, densely capitate heads, 2-4 cm across with a leaf just below the head; peduncles ca 1 cm long. Flowers 6-8, 1.3-2.0 x 0.8-1.5 cm; pedicels 3-5 mm long; bracts linear, lanceolate or ovate, 8-11 x 2- 5 mm, equal or shorter than the calyx, persistent, velvety; bracteoles 6-8 mm long, appressed to calyx. Calyx 5-lobed, tube ca 2 mm long, lobes 1.0- 1.2 x 0.2-0.4 cm, densely velvety, distinctly veined, 2-lipped, upper lip 2- lobed; lobes lanceolate, lower lip 3-lobed, lobes linear. Corolla bright yellow, nearly equal to calyx or included; vexillum obovate, 1.2-1.5 x 0.8- 1.2 cm, densely brown-silky hairy outside, glabrous within; wing petals oblong, ca 1.3 x 0.3-0.4 cm, hairy at the base; keel petals 1.0-1.1 x 0.4-0.6 cm, densely silky hairy outside, beak spirally twisted. Staminal sheath 3-6 mm long; free filaments 3-7 mm long. Ovary globose, 5-8 mm long, style 8- 10 mm long; stigma subglobose; ovules 10-15. Pods shorter than the calyx, globose, glabrous; seeds 8-12.
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Habit:
Shrub
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Flowering & Fruiting:
October-March
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District(s):
Idukki
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Dry deciduous forests
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Distribution:
Endemic to Peninsular India
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Aquatic:
No
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Epiphyte(s):
No
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Saprophyte:
No
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Stem parasite:
No
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Root parasite:
No
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Flower colour(s):
Yellow
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Weed:
No
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Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
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Exotic:
No
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Garden:
No
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Edible:
No
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Vegetable:
No
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Endemic to:
Peninsular India
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IUCN status:
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Altitude:
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Localities:
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