Crotalaria pallida |
Crotalaria retusa |
|
---|---|---|
salts rattlebox, smooth crotalaria, smooth rattlebox, striped crotalaria |
rattleweed |
|
Habit | Herbs annual. | |
Stems | erect, 30–90 cm, strigose to strigose-sericeous. |
|
Leaves | unifoliolate; stipules sometimes absent, setaceous, not decurrent on stem, 1–2 mm; blade obovate to spatulate or oblanceolate, 30–80 mm, length 2.2–3(–4) times width, surfaces strigose abaxially, glabrous adaxially. |
|
Racemes | 5–24-flowered, terminal, subterminal, or lateral, 10–20(–30) cm; bracts caducous, linear, 2–3 mm. |
|
Flowers | calyx broadly cylindrical, 12–15 mm, basally truncate, lobes triangular-lanceolate, glabrous or slightly puberulous; corolla bright yellow, with prominent reddish lines to strongly red-tinted, 20–25 mm. |
|
Legumes | 25–40(–50) × 10–14 mm, glabrous. |
|
2n | = 16. |
|
Crotalaria pallida |
Crotalaria retusa |
|
Phenology | Flowering Jul–Oct, Jan–Apr. | |
Habitat | Fallow fields, roadsides, sandy wastes. | |
Elevation | 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.) | |
Distribution |
Africa [Introduced in North America]
|
FL; GA; KY; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Asia, Indian Ocean Islands, Pacific Islands, Australia] |
Discussion | Varieties 2 (1 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
In the flora area, Crotalaria retusa is commonly found in subtropical Florida but much more rarely in temperate areas, where it does not persist. (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 | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Name authority | Aiton: Hort. Kew. 3: 20. (1789) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 715. (1753) |
Web links |