Compilation
Parochetus africanus
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Name
Identification
Parochetus africanus Polhill [family LEGUMINOSAE ]
Related name
- Parochetus africanus
Flora
Entry for Parochetus africanus Polhill [family LEGUMINOSAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Zambesiaca
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
FZ, Vol 3, Part 7, (2003) Author: various authors
Names
Parochetus africanus Polhill [family LEGUMINOSAE], in Kew Mag. 8: 56, fig. on page 57 (1991). TAB. 3,7: 11. Type: Malawi, Mt. Chiradzulu (Chiradzura), Meller s.n. (K, holotype).
Parochetus communis [family LEGUMINOSAE], sensu J.G. Baker in F.T.A. 2: 48 (1871). —sensu Gürke in Engler, Pflanzenw. Ost-Afrikas C: 208 (1895). —sensu Gillett in F.C.B. 4: 289 (1953). —sensu Brenan in Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 8: 249 (1953). —sensu Gillett in F.T.E.A., Leguminosae, Pap.: 1014, fig. 141 (1971) non Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don (1825).
Parochetus major [family LEGUMINOSAE], sensu E.G. Baker, Legum. Trop. Africa: 70 (1926) non D. Don (1825).
Parochetus communis var. grossecrenatus Cufod. [family LEGUMINOSAE], in Senckenberg. Biol. 39: 295, t. 35/1 (1958). Type from Ethiopia.
Parochetus sp. Blundell [family LEGUMINOSAE], Wild Fl. East Africa: 114, pl. 830 (1987).
Information
Creeping prostrate herb, forming ground cover. Stems slender, rooting at the nodes, lacking tubers, glabrous to sparsely pilose. Leaves digitately 3-foliolate; leaflets up to 4 cm long and wide, obovate, emarginate at the apex, cuneate at the base, margins usually coarsely toothed towards the apex, with a distinct midrib and 4 primary lateral nerves on each side, green blotched with white in the centre, glabrous above, subglabrous to pilose beneath; petiole 3–30 cm long, pilose; stipules 6–10 mm long, ovate, acute, scarious. Inflorescence 1–2(3)-flowered; peduncle 1.5–25 cm long, ascending; bracts similar to stipules but smaller. Flowers sweetly scented, on pedicels 1.5–6 cm long, reflexed in fruit. Calyx c. 7 mm long, the 2 upper lobes connate almost to their tips, the lateral lobes triangular-lanceolate, the lowest lobe longer than the 2 lateral, glabrous to sparsely pilose. Corolla generally pale blue (rarely white), glabrous; standard 12–18 mm long, broadly ovate-elliptic, emarginate, contracted at the base into a short claw; wings c. 13 mm long, oblong-ovate, the auricle only 0.5–1.5 mm (2.5–4 mm in P. communis) long; keel c. 10 mm long, subangular about the middle of the blade (upcurved near the tip in P.communis), acute, almost straight along the upper margin, darker blue at the tip. Stamens glabrous. Ovary glabrous; style slender, glabrous; stigma minute, capitate. Pod 15–25 × 4–5 mm, narrowly oblong, shortly beaked, glabrous or rarely pilose, tardily dehiscent or sometimes forced open by seeds germinating inside. Seeds 2–2.5 × 1.8–2 mm, slightly reniform, brown, sometimes mottled darker.
Habitat
Submontane or montane, forest floor and on stream and river banks in damp shady places
Altitude range
1500–2000 m.
2000
1500
Distribution
Malawi S Zomba Distr., Zomba Plateau, by Mlunguzi Stream near Trout Ponds, 1520 m, fl. 26.vii.1970, Brummitt 12244 (K; LISC; MAL; SRGH).Malawi N Rumphi Distr., Nyika Forest, above Nchenachena, c. 1950 m, fl. vii.1953, Chapman 182 (BM).Zimbabwe C Marondera (Marandellas), Grasslands Research Station, cultivated, fl. 15.ii.1967, Corby 1761 (K; PRE).
Distribution (external)
central Ethiopia
eastern Dem. Rep. Congo
Rwanda
Burundi
western Uganda
Kenya
Tanzania
Notes
Although Gillett, loc. cit. (1971), has recorded this species from Mozambique (Namuli) I have not seen any material from this area.