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slender leaf rattlebox

avon park rattlebox

Habit Herbs annual or short-lived perennial. Herbs perennial.
Stems

erect, 70–250 cm, strigose.

erect to slightly spreading, 2–10 cm, strigose to sericeous.

Leaves

3-foliolate;

stipules absent;

leaflet blades linear to linear-lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, 50–130(–180) mm, length 7–10 times width, surfaces strigose abaxially, glabrous adaxially.

unifoliolate;

stipules absent;

blade oblong, elliptic to ovate, or suborbiculate, (5–)8–19 mm, length 1.3–3.5 times width, surfaces loosely strigose-sericeous.

Racemes

4–12-flowered, terminal or subterminal, 15–40 cm;

bracts persistent, linear-triangular, minute.

(1 or)2–8-flowered, terminal, subterminal, or lateral, 2–6 cm;

bracts persistent, linear-triangular.

Flowers

calyx broadly cylindrical, truncate basally, 4–6 mm, lobes triangular, shiny-glabrous;

corolla pale yellow with prominent reddish purple lines, 18–20 mm.

calyx cylindrical, 7–8 mm, lobes triangular-lanceolate, loosely strigose;

corolla bright yellow, 8–9 mm.

Legumes

straight, (40–)50–70 × (10–)15–20 mm, sparsely strigose or glabrescent.

14–25 × 6–8 mm, glabrous or sparsely strigose on abaxial suture.

2n

= 16.

Crotalaria ochroleuca

Crotalaria avonensis

Phenology Flowering Apr–Oct. Flowering Mar–Jun.
Habitat Roadsides, ditches, prairie swales, sandy fields. White sands, scrub dominated by Florida rosemary, oaks, and/or sand pine, disturbed areas along roads and trails.
Elevation 0–10 m. (0–0 ft.) 30–50 m. (100–200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in South America (Brazil), Asia (China), Pacific Islands (Papua New Guinea), Australia]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Crotalaria ochroleuca has often been identified in the United States as C. intermedia Kotschy or C. brevidens Bentham var. intermedia (Kotschy) Polhill.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Crotalaria avonensis is known only from northern Highlands and southern Polk counties on the Lake Wales Ridge; it is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 11. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Crotalaria Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Crotalaria
Sibling taxa
C. avonensis, C. incana, C. juncea, C. lanceolata, C. pallida, C. pumila, C. purshii, C. retusa, C. rotundifolia, C. sagittalis, C. spectabilis, C. trichotoma, C. verrucosa, C. virgulata
C. incana, C. juncea, C. lanceolata, C. ochroleuca, C. pallida, C. pumila, C. purshii, C. retusa, C. rotundifolia, C. sagittalis, C. spectabilis, C. trichotoma, C. verrucosa, C. virgulata
Name authority G. Don: Gen. Hist. 2: 138. (1832) DeLaney & Wunderlin: Sida 13: 315, figs. 1–5. (1989)
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