Aeschynomene chimanimaniensis Verdc.

Leguminosae, B. Verdcourt. Flora Zambesiaca 3:6. 2000

Morphology General Habit

Small shrub c. 90 cm tall.

Morphology Stem

Young stems densely covered with glandular tubercular-based hairs; older stems appearing jointed at the nodes due to the scars formed by the deciduous stipules.

Morphology Leaves

Leaves 12–22-foliolate; leaflets 6–15 × 3.1–6 mm, elliptic-oblong, acute or rounded and mucronulate at the apex, obliquely rounded or slightly emarginate at the base, entire (but sometimes appearing denticulate due to tubercles of hairs) with short tubercular-based hairs, the tubercles sometimes large enough to render the leaflet rough, particularly along the margins and on the midrib beneath; venation reticulate and sometimes raised beneath; petiole and rhachis 1.8–5 cm long, hairy like the stems; petiolules up to 1 mm long; stipules conspicuous, 6–19 × 5–7 mm, ovate to lanceolate, at length deciduous, densely shortly pubescent with tubercular-based hairs.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Racemes axillary, often branched, 2.5–10 cm long, hairy like the stems; peduncles 1–2 cm long; pedicels 2–4 mm long, both similarly pubescent; bracts 2.5–6 × 1.5–4 mm, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, pubescent, acute, very soon deciduous; bracteoles 4.5 × 1 mm, oblong-lanceolate, ciliolate, deciduous.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx

Calyx pubescent, 2-lipped; lips 10–11 × 5 mm, elliptic, the marginal areas not pubescent, one acute the other slightly 3-fid.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla

Standard yellow with a 2-lobed purple spot at the base, 11 × 8 mm, almost round, slightly emarginate; wings and keel yellow, the former free, the latter not exceeding the standard.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Fruit of 2 articles (1 sometimes undeveloped) joined by a narrow neck, each oblong-elliptic or roughly semicircular, 7 × 5 mm, rather sparsely covered with tubercular-based hairs particularly when young.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds

Seeds chestnut in colour, 3.8 × 3 × 2 mm, ellipsoid-reniform, not beaked beyond the small eccentric hilum.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/66106687/66106692

Conservation

LC - least concern

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation

Predicted extinction risk: threatened. Confidence: confident