Neonotonia wightii (Wight & Arn.) J.A.Lackey

Global description

Neonotonia wightii is a creeping perennial vine. Stem with yellow reflexed hairs. The leaves are alternate compound trifoliolate, borne on a pubescent petiole, with oval stipules at the base. The leaflets are short-petiolulate, oval to elliptic, the laterals often asymmetrical at the base, the apex wedge-shaped, mucronate. Both sides are glabrous or pubescent. The inflorescence is a long-pedicellate axillary raceme bearing numerous small,white flowers more or less purple tinged, the keel as long as the standard. The fruit is a more or less hairy linear pod with marked constrictions between the seeds. Seeds are orange-red kidney-shaped to rectangular with a weak white hilum.

Cotyledons

Cotyledons are reniform, 1.5 cm long and 0.5 cm wide, subsessile and light green, hairless.

First leaves

The first leaves are alternate. The first two leaves are simple (only the terminal leaflet), borne on long petioles more or less densely covered with yellow hairs. The leaf blade is broadly oval, mucronate at the apex and more or less densely covered with yellow hairs. The following leaves become compound and trifoliolate.

General habit

Neonotonia wightii is a creeping or climbing vine that grows from a woody stump. It is 0.5 to 4.5 m long.

Underground system

The root is a deep taproot, which forms a woody stump as it ages.

Stem

The stem is twining, cylindrical, solid, longitudinally ridged and covered with sparse or dense yellowish-green reflexed hairs.

Leaf

The leaves are alternate, compound and trifoliolate. They are borne on a stout, more or less densely hairy petiole 2.5 to 12 cm long. At the base of the petiole are 2 oval to oblong lanceolate stipules 1 to 10 mm long and 1 to 3 mm wide, rapidly deciduous. The rachis is 2 to 18 mm long. The leaflets are borne on petiolules 1 to 3 mm long, with a pair of reduced linear stipels at their base. The leaflets are oval to elliptical, 1.2 to 15 cm long and 0.5 to 13 cm wide. The terminal leaflet has a very broad wedge-shaped base, while the lateral leaflets have a wedge-shaped or asymmetric base. The apex is more or less acuminate or wedge-shaped and mucronate. The margin is entire and both sides are sparsely to densely pubescent. The venation is pinnate, consisting of 4 to 6 slightly arching secondary veins.

Inflorescence

The inflorescence is axillary, formed by a small raceme from 5 to 50 cm long, carried by a peduncle from 2 to 10 cm, more or less pubescent with yellow hairs. The flowers are numerous, small and more or less dense.

Flower

The flowers are borne on pedicels 0.5 to 3.5 mm long, with a lanceolate bract 1 to 5 mm long at their base. The calyx is more or less hairy, formed by a tube of 1 to 2 mm surmounted by 5 lanceolate linear lobes, 1 to 6 mm long. The corolla is typically papilionaceous, white in colour with some violet spots in the centre of the standard. The standard is 3 to 12 mm long and 4 to 8 mm wide, semi-circular in shape. The wings are flat and very rounded, giving the effect of a broadly bilobed lower lip.

Fruit

The fruit is a linear cylindrical pod ending in a small point. It is more or less pubescent with long yellow hairs and clearly marked with constrictions between the seeds. It is 1.5 to 3.5 cm long and 2 to 4 mm in diameter and contains 3 to 8 seeds.

Seed

The seed is weakly kidney-shaped to rather rectangular, 3 mm long and 2 mm wide. It is orange-red in colour with a sparsely developed white hilum. The seed coat is finely roughened.

Origin

Neonotonia wightii is native to tropical Africa and India.

Worldwide distribution

It is a forage and cover crop that has been introduced and used in many tropical regions: in the West Indies, in South America (Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay), in the Indian Ocean islands (Mauritius, Rodrigues, Reunion), in South East Asia (Malaysia, Java) and in Oceania (Australia, New Guinea, Fiji, Hawaii).

https://www.gbif.org/species/2947913