Clitoria
butterfly-pea, pigeonwings
erect or distally lax and twining or trailing [scandent], uncinate-pubescent.
alternate, odd-pinnate;
stipules present, persistent, striate;
petiolate;
leaflets 3–7, stipels striate, blade margins entire, surfaces glabrous or pubescent.
1 or 2(–4)-flowered, axillary, pseudoracemes, erect to lax, flowers chasmogamous, sometimes also cleistogamous;
bracts present, persistent;
bracteoles persistent or tardily deciduous, appressed to calyx, rarely enlarged and obscuring calyx.
paired, borne laterally at apex, spirally twisted to invert flowers.
usually papilionaceous, actinomorphic in C. ternatea var. pleniflora; chasmogamous flowers resupinate, rarely all petals subequal, bannerlike, 35–60 mm; cleistogamous flowers apetalous, banner rarely hidden within calyx, reduced, inconspicuous except in fruit;
calyx persistent, funnelform, lobes 5, adaxial 2 subconnate, 4 wider, often shorter than abaxial lobe, shorter than tube;
corolla lilac, blue, purplish, or blue-violaceous, sometimes with white to yellow medial strip [white with purplish venation on banner];
banner conduplicate, short-clawed, spurless, obovate-orbiculate, 40–60 mm, much larger than other petals, arising from lower side of resupinate flower, emarginate;
wings slightly adherent to keel, long-clawed, falcate-oblong or spatulate, shorter than banner and extending beyond keel, base without auricles;
keel incurved, long-clawed;
stamens 10, diadelphous, usually distinct apically, rarely ± distinct and some in bundles;
anthers dorsifixed;
ovary stipitate;
style elongated, flattened, base persistent as beak in fruit, apex dilated and geniculate distally, bearded lengthwise.
legumes, stipitate to subsessile, straight to subfalcate, convex and depressed between seeds or flat, linear, 6–11 mm wide, dehiscent by valves breaking from replum, spirally twisting to expel seeds, leathery, margins thickened, apex beaked, uncinate-pubescent.
1–10[–12], cuboidal, globose, or subreniform [reniform].
= 8, (12).
Clitoria
Species ca. 60 (3 in the flora).
Species of Clitoria are usually associated with sandy soils. Fruits and seeds are variable; floral traits are consistent.
Clitoria is divided into three subgenera and eight sections; the introduced species in the flora area belongs to subg. Clitoria, and the two native species belong to subg. Neurocarpum (Desvaux) Baker sect. Mexicana Fantz.
Cleistogamy has been reported for species of Clitoria only recently. Cleistogamous flowers are inconspicuous. In the flora area, chasmogamous flowers occur predominately from May to mid July (to September); cleistogamous flowers occur from mid July onward. Both flower forms occur on the same plant. Inflorescences with both chasmogamous and cleistogamous flowers are rare.
Clitoria and Centrosema have resupinate, papilionaceous flowers. Historically, the similarity in appearance has resulted in frequent misidentifications. Both genera have microuncinate or uncinate hairs (viewed at 20–30×) on their vegetative and reproductive structures. Suffrutescent members have aerial stems arising seasonally from a subterranean woody rhizome (xylopodium) that is seldom collected. The proximal portion of the xylopodium is thickened and scarred with nodes of prior aerial stems. Extending from this is an elongated, narrow, distal portion that extends laterally away from the aerial plant, which extends deeper into the ground, and breaks easily as one attempts to collect it. Centrosema is distinguished by campanulate calyces, U-curved styles, corollas V-shaped basally, wings subequal to keels, and fruits flat, each with a raised costa near each margin.
Some species of Clitoria are tropical agronomic crops and medicinal plants and are useful for pesticidal properties, fish poisons, and natural dyes. Some species are valued as cultivated ornamentals, including the three species treated here plus C. biflora Dalzell, C. brachystegia Bentham, C. fairchildiana R. A. Howard, C. heterophylla Lamarck, and C. laurifolia Poiret (P. R. Fantz 1991).
Nauchea Descourtilz, Ternatea Miller, and Vexillaria Eaton are illegitimate names that pertain here.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaflets 5 or 7; petioles 1–4 cm; rachis 2–7 cm; legumes subsessile, flat, yellowish green to green becoming light brownish to tan; seeds not viscid; bracteoles broadly ovate to suborbiculate; cleistogamous flowers absent. | C. ternatea |
1. Leaflets 3; petioles 1.5–10 cm; rachis 0.7–2(–2.5) cm; legumes stipitate, convex, brown; seeds viscid; bracteoles (of chasmogamous flowers) linear-lanceolate or lanceolate to lanceolate-ovate; cleistogamous flowers present. | → 2 |
2. Calyx tubes 7–10 mm, purplish tinged near base; leaflet blades linear, linear-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate or, sometimes, proximal ones narrowly elliptic, 5–15 mm wide, primary lateral veins 6–8 pairs; stipules 2–4 mm; stipels 1–3 mm; legume stipes 15–21 mm; cleistogamous flowers: bracteoles 2(–3) mm, calyx tube 3–4 mm, legume stipe 9–14 mm; s Florida. | C. fragrans |
2. Calyx tubes 10–14 mm, greenish; leaflet blades ovate, oblong-ovate, elliptic-oblong, lanceolate, lanceolate-ovate, oblong, or elliptic, 10–40(–65) mm wide, primary lateral veins 7–12 pairs; stipules 4–8 mm; stipels 3–8 mm; legume stipes 12–17 mm; cleistogamous flowers: bracteoles 3–5 mm, calyx tube 4–5 mm, legume stipe 5–10 mm; e, se United States to e Texas, se Arizona. | C. mariana |
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