Flora of North America species comparison

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Crotalaria trichotoma

curara pea, West Indian rattlebox
Habit Herbs annual or short-lived perennial.
Stems

suffrutescent basally, erect, 75–250 cm, strigose to strigillose, hairs tightly appressed.
Leaves

3-foliolate;

stipules absent;

leaflet blades elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate or elliptic-oblanceolate, 40–100(–140) mm, length 3–4.5 times width, surfaces strigose abaxially, glabrous adaxially.
Racemes

10–50-flowered, terminal, subterminal, or lateral, 10–40 cm;

bracts persistent, linear-subulate.
Flowers

calyx broadly cylindrical, basally truncate and deflexed against pedicel, 4–6 mm (length less than width), lobes triangular-lanceolate, glabrous or sparsely strigillose;

corolla yellow with prominent reddish lines, each wing with a purple spot at base, 12–15 mm.
Legumes

30–45 × 7–12 mm, sparsely to densely strigose to strigose-sericeous.

Crotalaria trichotoma
Phenology Flowering probably year-round.
Habitat Roadsides.
Elevation 0–10 m. (0–0 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Central America (Nicaragua), South America (Argentina, Peru), Asia (China, Java, Sri Lanka, Sumatra), Indian Ocean Islands, Pacific Islands, Australia]
Discussion

In the flora area, Crotalaria trichotoma has been found only in Miami-Dade County.

R. M. Polhill (1982) stated that Crotalaria trichotoma does not belong in the genus Crotalaria, without stating its placement elsewhere. In contrast, D. Isely (1998) observed that C. trichotoma resembles the common C. pallida in flower but that the latter has wider leaflets and caducous bracts; the similarity of C. trichotoma to many other crotalarias is confirmed here.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Crotalaria
Sibling taxa
C. avonensis, C. incana, C. juncea, C. lanceolata, C. ochroleuca, C. pallida, C. pumila, C. purshii, C. retusa, C. rotundifolia, C. sagittalis, C. spectabilis, C. verrucosa, C. virgulata
Synonyms C. usaramoensis, C. zanzibarica
Name authority Bojer: Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., sér. 2, 4: 265. (1835)
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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