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Flemingia grahamiana Wight & Arn. [family LEGUMINOSAE]

Date Updated: 26 July 2007

Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Zambesiaca
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
FZ, Vol 3, Part 5, (2001) Author: B. Mackinder, R. Pasquet, R. Polhill and B. Verdcourt
Names
Flemingia grahamiana Wight & Arn. [family LEGUMINOSAE], Prodr. Fl. Ind. Orient.: 242 (1834). —Brenan in Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 8: 423 (1954). —Verdcourt in F.T.E.A., Leguminosae, Pap.: 806, fig. 115 (1971). —Drummond in Kirkia 8: 220 (1972). —Gonçalves in Garcia de Orta, Sér. Bot. 5: 82 (1982). —Lock, Leg. Afr. Check-list: 413 (1989). TAB. 3.5.38. Type from India. Flemingia rhodocarpa Baker [family LEGUMINOSAE], in F.T.A. 2: 231 (1871). —Eyles in Trans. Roy. Soc. South Africa 5: 383 (1916). —E.G. Baker in J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 40: 59 (1911); Legum. Trop. Africa: 514 (1929). —Brenan, Check-list For. Trees Shrubs Tang. Terr.: 425 (1949). Type: Malawi, Manganja Hills, Meller 11 (K, holotype). Eriosema erythrocarpon Beck [family LEGUMINOSAE], in Paulitschke, Harar: 455, t. 1/10, 11 (1888). Type from Ethiopia. Moghania grahamiana Wight & Arn. Kuntze [family LEGUMINOSAE], Rev. Gen. Pl. 1: 199 (1891). —Hepper in F.W.T.A., ed. 2, 1: 559 (1958). —Dale & Greenway, Kenya Trees & Shrubs: 371 (1961). Moghania rhodocarpa Baker Hauman [family LEGUMINOSAE], in F.C.B. 6: 258 (1954). —White, F.F.N.R.: 160 (1962).
Information
Herb or scarcely woody subshrub, erect or occasionally subscandent, 0.3–2(3) m tall. Stems at first silky greyish or fulvous hairy, later glabrescent. Leaflets 3, usually paler beneath, pubescent to densely velvety, sparsely to densely covered with small dark red glands; terminal leaflet 2.7–16.5 × 1.3–8 cm, elliptic to obovate, obtuse to acuminate at the apex, cuneate or obtuse at the base; lateral leaflets 2–15 × 1–6.5 cm, obliquely ovate or elliptic, obtuse to acuminate at the apex, rounded to cuneate at the base; petiole 1.5–7 cm long, widened or almost winged; petiolules 3 mm long. Racemes fasciculate, dense, fulvous hairy; rhachis 1–2(5) cm long; bracts imbricate, 4 × 2 mm, ovate-elliptic, multinerved; pedicels c. 2 mm long. Calyx tube 1.5 mm long; lobes 3–6 mm long, linear. Corolla greenish, yellowish-white or pink, sometimes with faint purple veining; standard 7–8 mm long, oblong. Pods 9–12 × 6 mm, yellowish pubescent and also covered with dense but irregular dark red globules of a secretion which leaves an orange-red stain on touching. Seeds black, c. 1.5 mm in diameter, ± round.
Habitat
In riverine and mushitu vegetation and lake shore margins, in dambo and submontane grasslands, and in miombo and chipya woodlands, also on hillsides and termite mounds and disturbed ground at roadsides
Range
Widespread in tropical Africa from Ethiopia to Cameroon, Ghana and south to Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania to South Africa (Northern Province, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal); also extending to southern India
Altitude range
480–1800 m. 1800 480
Distribution
Zimbabwe C Marondera Distr., Headlands Railway Crossing, fl. 1.vii.1965, Corby 1333 (K; SRGH).Zambia C Lusaka Distr., Mukamunyo R., Monkey Pool, fl. & fr. 8.ii.1972, Kornas 2087 (K; KRA).Zambia N Samfya Distr., Lake Bangweulu, Samfya Mission, fl. & fr. 21.viii.1952, F. White 3117 (FHO; K).Mozambique M Libombos Mts., Namaacha, fl. 25.viii.1967, Gomes e Sousa & Balsinhas 4939 (K).Mozambique T Marávia Distr., Fíngoè, fl. & fr. 13.viii.1941, Torre 3292 (LISC).Mozambique Z Lugela Distr., Namagoa Estate, fl. viii–ix.1946, Faulkner PRE 124 (K; PRE).Malawi S Zomba Plateau, ascent road 0.5 km below Kuchawe (Ku Chawe), fl. 21.viii.1972, Brummitt 12928 (K).Malawi C Nkhotakota Distr., Chia area, fl. & fr. 3.ix.1946, Brass 17509 (K; NY).Zimbabwe E Chimanimani Distr., 1 km southwest of Chimanimani (Melsetter) Village, fl. & fr. 27.viii.1960, Rutherford-Smith 8 (K; SRGH).Zambia E Chipata, Lunkwakwa R., fr. 20.ix.1966, Mutimushi 1444 (K; NDO).Zambia W Kitwe, Kafue R., fl. 18.viii.1967, Mutimushi 2019 (K; NDO).Mozambique N Lichinga Distr., Litunde, fl. 3.ix.1983, Groenendijk & Dungo 658 (K; LMU).Malawi N Mzimba Distr., Mzuzu, Tung Estate, fl. 31.vii.1969, Pawek 2593 (K).
Notes
Nooteboom in Reinwardtia 5(4): 434 (1961) considered the subgenus Flemingiastrum DC. to contain a single species but this appears to me incorrect. The African plant is clearly identical with the Indian F. grahamiana which in India is admittedly often close to F. macrophylla; in Africa, however, and for the most part in India as well, the taxon is easily recognised and unquestionably worth a name. Only a thorough revision of the Asiatic species will decide the correct method of dealing with the variation in this group.
Flemingia grahamiana Wight & Arn. [family LEGUMINOSAE]
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