Crotalaria claussenii Bentham (1859:28)

Flores, Andréia Silva & Tozzi, Ana Maria Goulart De Azevedo, 2018, A synopsis of the genus Crotalaria (Leguminosae) in Brazil, Phytotaxa 346 (1), pp. 31-58 : 36

5. Crotalaria claussenii Bentham (1859:28) . ( Fig. 1c ).

Type: — BRAZIL.“ Minas Gerais ” 1842–3, P. Claussen 254 (holotype: K000500584 digital image!; isotype: BR0000008423276 digital image!) .

Subshrub 0.8–1.7 m high; branches pubescent. Internodal stem wings absent. Leaves 3-foliolate, digitate, petioles 3–4.8 cm long; leaflets elliptics or oblong- elliptics, 3.8–9.8 × 1.4–3 cm, pubescent or puberulous above and puberulous beneath; stipules 3–9 mm long, linear. Inflorescence a raceme, 18–28 cm long, terminal or rarely opposite to a leaf; peduncles 0.8–2 cm long. Flowers 10–40; pedicels 7–8 mm long; bracts 7–11 mm long, subulate, persistent; bracteoles 2 mm long, subulate, persistent; calyx 13–15 mm long, lobes four to five times as long as the tube, sericeous; corolla yellow; the standard petal 1.1–1.4 × 1–1.2 cm, appendages extending to the claw; wing petals 1.1–1.2 cm long; keel petals 1–1.1 cm long, glabrate or ciliate on the upper margin, untwisted; ovary 4—5 mm long, stipitate; style curved. Legumes 2.3–2.8 × 0.8–0.9 cm, cylindrical, densely pubescent, brown at maturity, ca. 15-seeded; seeds 5 × 4 mm, seed coat brown.

Distribution and Ecology: — Crotalaria claussenii is endemic to the Serra da Bocaina mountains in the state of São Paulo, in high altitude grasslands above 1,000 m.a.m.s.l.

Specimens studied: — BRAZIL. São Paulo: Cunha, cultivado no Jardim Botânico de SP, 29 January 1940, Handro s.n. (SP 80232, UEC 105700 ) ; São José do Barreiro, road Sertão — Bairro dos Macacos, 31 December 1998, Freitas & Gajardo 524 ( UEC) ; Silveiras , road to Bairro dos Macacos, 17 September 1999, Freitas 703 ( UEC) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Habit of (a) Crotalaria brachycarpa Benth. (Ule 7200, HBG), (b) Crotalaria bahiaensis Windler & S.G. Skinner (Harley et al. 19156, SPF), (c) Crotalaria claussenii Benth. (Freitas & Gajardo 524, UEC), (d) Crotalaria flavicoma Benth. (Flores et al. 815, UEC). Scale bar: 5 cm.