Crotalaria spectabilis |
Crotalaria rotundifolia |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
rattlebox, showy crotalaria, showy rattlebox |
rabbitbells |
|||||
| Habit | Herbs annual. | Herbs perennial. | ||||
| Stems | suffrutescent basally, erect, 50–150 cm, glabrous. |
prostrate to decumbent or ascending, 10–70 cm, strigose or strigose-sericeous to hirsute-villous. |
||||
| Leaves | unifoliolate; stipules ovate to ovate-lanceolate, not decurrent on stem, 4–7 mm; blade obovate to elliptic, 50–150 mm, length 1.5–2.5 times width, surfaces glaucous, strigose abaxially, glabrous-punctate adaxially. |
unifoliolate; stipules lanceolate-auriculate or triangular, with 2 distinct lobes, decurrent on mid and distal stems, 2–10 mm; blade broadly elliptic, elliptic-ovate, ovate, broadly lanceolate, linear, linear-lanceolate, or obovate-oblanceolate, 9–50 mm, length 1–2.5(–12) times width, surfaces strigose to strigose-hirsute. |
||||
| Racemes | 12–22-flowered, terminal, subterminal, or lateral, 10–50 cm; bracts persistent, cordate-auriculate, 5–8 mm. |
(1 or)2–5-flowered, terminal, subterminal, or lateral, 4–20 cm; bracts persistent, linear-subulate to lanceolate. |
||||
| Flowers | calyx broadly cylindrical, 10–15 mm, lobes triangular-lanceolate, glabrous; corolla bright yellow, faintly red-lined, 17–25 mm. |
calyx broadly cylindrical, 5–9 mm, lobes triangular-lanceolate, glabrous or slightly puberulous; corolla bright yellow, banner sometimes red-lined, 7–13 mm. |
||||
| Legumes | 30–45 × 10–20 mm, glabrous. |
12–28 × 7–12 mm, glabrous. |
||||
| 2n | = 16. |
|||||
Crotalaria spectabilis |
Crotalaria rotundifolia |
|||||
| Phenology | Flowering (Jan–)Aug–Oct (year-round). | |||||
| Habitat | Grassy or fallow fields, roadsides, ditches, borrow pits, lake edges, disturbed areas. | |||||
| Elevation | 10–200 m. [30–700 ft.] | |||||
| Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; IL; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; SC; TN; TX; VA; Asia [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Indian Ocean Islands (Reúnion), Pacific Islands]
|
se United States; Mexico; Central America
|
||||
| Discussion | In Texas, Crotalaria spectabilis is known from Brazos, Cameron, Karnes, and Liberty counties. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||
| Parent taxa | ||||||
| Sibling taxa | ||||||
| Subordinate taxa | ||||||
| Key |
|
|||||
| Synonyms | C. retzii | |||||
| Name authority | Roth: Nov. Pl. Sp., 341. (1821) | J. F. Gmelin: Syst. Nat. 2: 1095. (1792) | ||||
| Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. | ||||
| Web links | ||||||