Spreading annual or perennial herb, up to 30 cm tall; stems strigulose to pilose. Leaf-rhachis up to 5 cm long including a petiole of 3–7 mm. Leaflets 5–13, opposite, oblong-elliptic, up to 15 x 5 mm. Racemes 5–15-flowered, lax, usually longer than the subtending leaf; peduncle 15–50 mm long. Calyx c. 2 mm long, lobes subulate. Corolla whitish or yellowish, pubescent outside. Stamens c. 3 mm long. Pods spreading, 8–17 x 2–2.5 mm, somewhat torulose with c. 0.5 mm broad sutures, pubescent, 4–8-seeded.
Range
N1 widespread in tropical Africa.
Altitude range
c. 1400 m.
Distribution
SOMALIA Thulin 11048.
Distribution (external)
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Notes
The Somali plant is the widespread var. vicioides with strigulose stems and leaflets glabrous or nearly so above. Var. rogersii (R.E. Fr.) Gillett occurs from Kenya and southwards.
