Flora of North America species comparison

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Crotalaria pallida var. obovata

Crotalaria pallida
Photo is of parent taxon

smooth rattlebox

salts rattlebox, smooth crotalaria, smooth rattlebox, striped crotalaria
Habit Herbs annual.
Stems

suffrutescent basally, erect, 60–200(–300) cm, moderately to densely strigose to sericeous or glabrescent.

Leaves

3-foliolate;

stipules sometimes absent, linear, 1–3 mm;

leaflet blades broadly obovate to elliptic, elliptic-obovate, or spatulate-obovate, 20–50(–75) mm, length 1.5–2.5 times width, surfaces strigillose abaxially, glabrous adaxially.

Racemes

(8–)12–45-flowered, terminal, 10–30 cm;

bracts caducous, filiform.

Flowers

calyx broadly cylindrical, sometimes basally truncate, not deflexed against pedicels, 3–4 mm, lobes triangular-lanceolate, sparsely to densely strigose;

corolla yellow to orangish, banner and keel strongly red- to reddish brown-lined, 11–15 mm.

Legumes

brown, slightly to conspicuously curved, 30–45 × 5–6 mm, minutely puberulent to glabrate, hairs ascending.

2n

= 16.

Crotalaria pallida var. obovata

Crotalaria pallida
Phenology Flowering Jul–Oct, Dec–Apr (year-round).
Habitat Roadsides, old or fallow fields, levees, lake edges, beach margins, disturbed sites, pine woods, dune scrub, palm-live oak edges.
Elevation 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC; Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Central America (El Salvador), South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru), Asia, Indian Ocean Islands, Pacific Islands, Australia]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
Africa [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Crotalaria pallida was collected in the flora area as early as 1886 as a ballast weed near Pensacola, Florida, by A. H. Curtis.

Crotalaria striata Schumacher & Thonning is an illegitimate name that pertains here.

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

Varieties 2 (1 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 11. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Crotalaria > Crotalaria pallida Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Crotalaria
Sibling taxa
C. avonensis, C. incana, C. juncea, C. lanceolata, C. ochroleuca, C. pumila, C. purshii, C. retusa, C. rotundifolia, C. sagittalis, C. spectabilis, C. trichotoma, C. verrucosa, C. virgulata
Subordinate taxa
C. pallida var. obovata
Synonyms C. obovata, C. falcata
Name authority (G. Don) Polhill: Kew Bull. 22: 265. (1968) Aiton: Hort. Kew. 3: 20. (1789)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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