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Crotalaria vialattei Batt.

Eng.: Rattlepod, rattlebox.   Tam.: Afarfar.

Shrub up to 1 m in height, hermaphrodite, erect, villous-silky silvery. Stems with simple hairs, c. 0.75 mm long, ± applied. Leaves trifoliolate, stipulate, with stipules 2-3 mm, linear-lanceolate, very villous; petiole 5-7 mm; leaflets 2-4 × 0.8-1 cm, oblong, entire, flat or somewhat folded, obtuse, with a short mucro, densely villous on both sides, with pinnate venation, only the midrib prominent on the underside. Inflorescences racemiform, with 15-20 flowers, terminal or lateral on the axil of the leaves. Peduncle 4-5 mm, very villous, borne on the axil of a linear-lanceolate bract, the bract villous on the upper side and almost glabrous on the underside, with 2 alternate bracteoles at the end. Calyx c. 7 mm, campanulate, very villous, slightly bilabiate, with subequal 3-veined teeth, which exceed half of the calyx. Corolla 11-14 mm, papilionoid, yellow, glabrous, slightly longer than the calyx; standard 11-12 mm, reniform, arched backwards, with slightly or no visible venation, with a claw 4-5 mm long; keel acute, concrescent and strongly curved, slightly shorter than the wings. Androecium monadelphous. Stamens glabrous and longly concrescent, with yellow anthers, some linear basifixed and others ovoid inserted on the dorsal side. Ovary sessile, villous, with 5 ovules. Pod oblong, inflated, silky, and considerably longer than the marcescent calyx.