Lessertia benguellensis Baker

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Lessertia benguellensis

Photo: Bart Wursten
Mukolo Camp, Kavango River

Lessertia benguellensis

Photo: Bart Wursten
Mukolo Camp, Kavango River

Lessertia benguellensis

Photo: Bart Wursten
Mukolo Camp, Kavango River

Lessertia benguellensis

Photo: Bart Wursten
Mukolo Camp, Kavango River

Lessertia benguellensis

Photo: Bart Wursten
Mukolo Camp, Kavango River

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Species details: Click on each item to see an explanation of that item (Note: opens a new window)

Synonyms: Coluteastrum benguellense (Baker) Hiern
Lessertia emarginata Schinz
Common names:
Frequency:
Status: Native
Description:
Robust shrubby perennial up to 1.5 m high, growing from a woody rootstock. Stems herbaceous, hairless. Leaves 5–13.5 cm long; leaflets 2–9 on each side, opposite or subopposite, linear-oblong or obovate, 6–25 mm, often emarginate, very sparsely white hairy beneath, hairless above; petiole 1–1.5 cm long, with very sparse white hairs; stipules lanceolate, 1–3 mm long, with white stiff hairs at the margins. Racemes up to 4 cm long, 3–many-flowered; peduncle 3–8 mm long; bracts ovate-lanceolate, 1–1.5 mm long, with stiff white hairs at the margins. Calyx 2.5–3 mm long, divided halfway into 5 equal teeth, with stiff hairs at the margins. Corolla yellow-greenish with the standard and wings streaked with purple-violet-bluish. Pod ovate or obliquely elliptic, sometimes with the dorsal suture arched, 1.5–4 cm long and 1–2 cm high, abruptly tapering at the base into a 2–3 mm long stipe, membranaceous, translucent, brownish, hairless. Seeds 1-7.
Notes:
Derivation of specific name: benguellensis: after the Benguella region of Angola
Habitat: On Kalahari Sand in thickets and dry open woodland, often on floodplains and river banks.
Altitude range: (metres) 900 - 1150 m
Flowering time:
Worldwide distribution: Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.
Zimbabwe distribution: W
Growth form(s):
Endemic status:
Red data list status:
Insects associated with this species:
Spot characters: Display spot characters for this species
Images last updated: Tuesday 9 July 2019
Literature:

Drummond, R.B. (1972). A list of Rhodesian Legumes. Kirkia 8(2) Page 223. as Lessertia emarginata

Heath, A. & Heath, R. (2009). Field Guide to the Plants of Northern Botswana including the Okavango Delta Kew Publishing Page 171. (Includes a picture).

Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 49.

Martins, E.S. et al. (2003). Papilionoideae Flora Zambesiaca 3(7) Pages 15 - 17. (Includes a picture).

Phiri, P.S.M. (2005). A Checklist of Zambian Vascular Plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 32 Page 62.

Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 68.


Other sources of information about Lessertia benguellensis:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Lessertia benguellensis
Flora of Caprivi: Lessertia benguellensis
Flora of Zambia: Lessertia benguellensis

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Lessertia benguellensis
African Plant Database: Lessertia benguellensis
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Lessertia benguellensis
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Lessertia benguellensis
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Lessertia benguellensis
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Lessertia benguellensis
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Lessertia benguellensis
JSTOR Plant Science: Lessertia benguellensis
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Lessertia benguellensis
Plants of the World Online: Lessertia benguellensis
Tropicos: Lessertia benguellensis
Wikipedia: Lessertia benguellensis


Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2002-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Zimbabwe: Species information: Lessertia benguellensis.
https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/species.php?species_id=130290, retrieved 28 March 2024

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