1040

 

Crotalaria quinquefolia L.

Synonyms	:	Crotalaria heterophylla L.f.
Family	:	Fabaceae
Local name	:	English- Five Leaf Rattlepod.
Flowering and fruiting period	:	September-December
Distribution	:	Tropical Asia; introduced in Jamaica and West Indies
Distribution in kerala	:	All Districts
Habitat	:	Bunds of rice fields and marshy areas
Uses	:	Flowers - steamed and eaten as a vegetable
Key Botanical Characters                   : Erect robust, annual herbs, up to 1 m tall; stems and branches pale, furrowed, angled. Leaves alternate, usually digitately 5-foliolate, rarely 3-foliolate, (3 leaflets longer and two smaller); leaflets 2.5-10.0 x 0.7-1.3 cm, oblong-lanceolate or linear-oblong, acute or cuneate at base, obtuse or subacute at apex, glabrous above, appressed-pubescent beneath, subsessile; stipules linear or linear-lanceolate, acute at apex, reflexed, subpersistent; petioles 1.5-7.5 cm long, slender, channelled. Racemes terminal, lax, elongated, up to 20 cm long. Flowers 10-20; pedicels 0.6-1.0 cm long; bracts lanceolate, 0.6-1.3 cm long, acute at apex, foliaceous, reflexed, persistent; bracteoles filiform, 1-2 mm long, at the middle or a little below of the pedicel. Calyx ca 1.2 cm long, tube campanulate, lobes triangular, acute at apex, as long as the tube, subequal. Petals yellow, with purple striations, twice as long as calyx, glabrous; vexillum suborbicular, ca 2 cm across, emarginate at apex, claw ca 3 mm long; wing petals oblong, ca 1.7-0.8 cm, enveloping the keel; keel petals ca 1.6 x 0..9 cm, outcurved about the middle, with incurved twisted beak. Ovary oblong, ca 7 x 2.5 mm, glabrous, stipe ca 2.5 mm long; ovules ca 25. Pods oblong, 3.7-5.0 x 2.0-2.5 cm, glabrous, slightly tapering at base, brown; stalk 5-10 mm long; seeds 20-40, subreniform, ca 5 mm long, light brown or greyish, papillate, with the narrow end strongly incurved.