3669.000 Crotalaria L.

Martins, E.S. et al. (2003) Papilionoideae Flora Zambesiaca 3(7)

Description of the genus

Herbs, shrubs or rarely small trees (capensis and pallidicaulis). Stipules filiform to leaf-like, or 0. Leaves simple, 1-foliolate or digitately 3(-7)-foliolate, usually petiolate. Flowers usually yellow, variously marked, less often white or blue, usually in terminal leaf-opposed or less commonly axillary racemes or heads; bract and paired bracteoles usually present. Calyx usually with 5 subequal lobes. Standard usually with 2 appendages at the base inside; keel rounded to angled, generally with a well-developed beak. Stamens joined in a sheath; anthers arranged alternately with 5 long, basifixed and 5, smaller, dorsifixed. Style curved or geniculate, usually with 1-2 lines of hairs in the upper part, the basal portion thicker than the upper. Legume usually inflated, 1-many seeded.

Worldwide: 600 species throughout the tropics (and subtropics), most numerous in eastern and southern tropical Africa

Malawi: 2 cultivated taxa.

The larvae of the following species of insect eat species of this genus:
Alytarchia amanda (Cheetah)
Azygophleps scalaris (Sesbania stem borer)
Coeliades pisistratus (Two-pip policeman)
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Links to cultivated taxa    View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesContent
agatiflora Schweinf. subsp. imperialis (Taub.) PolhillImage
spectabilis Roth

Other sources of information about Crotalaria:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Crotalaria
Flora of Botswana: cultivated Crotalaria
Flora of Burundi: Crotalaria
Flora of Caprivi: Crotalaria
Flora of Malawi: Crotalaria
Flora of Mozambique: Crotalaria
Flora of Mozambique: cultivated Crotalaria
Flora of Zambia: Crotalaria
Flora of Zimbabwe: Crotalaria
Flora of Zimbabwe: cultivated Crotalaria

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Crotalaria
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Crotalaria
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Crotalaria
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Crotalaria
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Crotalaria
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Crotalaria
JSTOR Plant Science: Crotalaria
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Crotalaria
Plants of the World Online: Crotalaria
Tropicos: Crotalaria
Wikipedia: Crotalaria

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2014-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Malawi: Cultivated plants: genus page: Crotalaria.
https://www.malawiflora.com/cult/genus.php?genus_id=714, retrieved 7 October 2024

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