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Colutea istria Mill.

C. halepica Lam.

Eng.: Bladder-senna.   Spa.: Espantalobos, garbancillo, sonajas.   Fre.: Baguenaudier.   Ara.: Yusr, yasar, shohat.

Shrub, up to 1(2.5) in height, deciduous, hermaphrodite, very ramose, with flexuous branches, at first erect, then extended, often pendulous. Stems and old branches with reddish bark and, once it peels off, very bright. Young branchlets with applied hairs, giving them a whitish appearance, although they are promptly caducous. Leaves 3-6 cm, imparipinnate, with 7-11 leaflets, 5-6(9) × 3-6 mm, shortly petiolulate, from broadly elliptic to obovate, and with a rounded or obtuse apex, with a tiny mucro. Inflorescences in racemes, axillary, usually with 1-3(4) pedicellate flowers (pedicels 8-15 mm), usually longer than the axillary leaf. Calyx c. 6-8 mm, campanulate, with triangular teeth c. 1.5 mm. Corolla 18-20(22) mm, papilionoid, yellow, standard with an orange pattern on the base (reminiscent of a pair of horseshoes or the flames of two candles), with a torn margin; wings oblong and usually appearing rolled as bird beaks, and keel very curved upwards, like a sickle. Androecium diadelphous. Ovary tomentose. Pod 4-5 × 2-3 cm, stipitate, highly inflated, with membranous walls, pinkish or greenish, with a purple venation that can be appreciated due to the pod’s transparency, glabrous or sparsely hairy, usually with the style persisting and rolled on the apex, indehiscent. Seeds 4-5, reniform, 4-5 mm.