Flemingia brevipes Craib (1927: 68)

Do, Truong Van & Gao, Xin-Fen, 2020, Taxonomic revision of the genus Flemingia (Leguminosae) from Indo-Chinese floristic region, Phytotaxa 429 (1), pp. 1-38 : 35

23. Flemingia brevipes Craib (1927: 68) . Type:— THAILAND. Chantaburi: Krat. Kao Saming, under 20 m, edge of vergreen forest, 25

November 1924, A.F.G.Kerr 9406 (Holotype, ABD!; isotype, ABD!, BM-000958667!, K-000900610!, E-00313508)

Shrubs, erect, up to 2 m tall. Young branches triangular, densely adpressed silky villous, glabrescent when old. Petiole 5–9 cm long, grooved not winged; petiolules 4–7 mm long, densely hairy. Stipules lanceolate, ca. 1.5 cm long, villous, with glandular striations, apex acute, usually caducous. Leaves digitately 3-foliolate; leaflets papery to thinly papery; terminal leaflet lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 10–19 cm long, 4–6.5 cm wide, base cuneate, apex acuminata; lateral leaflets smaller, oblique, ovate-lanceolate, base rounded at one side, cuneate on other; adaxial surface glabrecent except for veins, abaxial surface pubescent with silky hairs and dark-brown sessile glands; basal veins 3, lateral veins pinnate, 7–10 pairs. Inflorescence racemose, axillary, solitary or branched, usually clustered, cluster of 2–3 racemes; inflorescence axis 2–5 cm long, often shorter than the petioles; peduncle short 5–10 mm lomg; bracts lanceolate-ovate, ca. 3 mm long, membranous, acuminate, silky hairy outside, caducous. Flowers in lax racemes; pedicel ca. 3 mm long. Calyx tube campanulate, ca. 2 mm long; lobes linear-lanceolate, falcated, ca. 2 × as long as tube, lower one longest ca. 6 mm long; outside densely silky. Corolla dark-purple, equalling to or lightly longer than calyx; standard suborbicular, shortly clawed, auriculate; wings broadly elliptic, slenderly clawed, one with auricle; keel oblong, long clawed, apex slightly curved. Pods elliptic, ca. 10 mm long, 5–6 mm diam., sparsely gland-dotted, apex with small acute beak. Seeds 1 or 2, glossy black, orbicular.

Ecology and phenology: — Flemingia brevipes grows in margins of evergreen forest or along roadside at 200– 500 m. Flowering from August to November, and fruiting from October to December.

Distribution: —Endemic to Thailand.

Notes: —When description of F. brevipes, Craib (1927) was compared with F. sootepensis Craib. Indeed , it clearly distinguish from the latter by the differences of leaf shape, petiole, length of inflorescence axis, and calyx. F. brevipes is most similar to F. mengpengensis Y.T. Wei & S.K. Lee by sharing a large leaflet blade, a unwinged petiole and falcated calyx lobes, it is, however, different from the latter in having flowers are in lax racemes (vs. dense racemes), obvious peduncle is obvious, ca. 5–10 mm long (vs. sessile), calyx is shorter, ca. 8–10 mm long (vs. 15–17 mm long), and corolla is equal or slightly longer than the calyx (vs. included in the calyx).

Representative specimens: — THAILAND. Put 3641 (AAU). Bor Rai: Makham, K.Larsen et al. 32305 (AAU, SING). Nakhon: Karom waterfall, Khao Luang, K.Larsen et al. 44150 (SING, AAU). Trang: Khao Pina, K.Larsen et al. 42507 (AAU, BKF). Chantaburi: Kao Samiang, J.F.Maxwell 72-547 (AAU).