Tephrosia noctiflora Baker

Global description

Tephrosia noctiflora is an upright herbaceous to subwoody plant. Taproot. Full stems covered with brownish pubescence. Leaves alternate, imparipinnately compound 6 to 15 leaflets. Pubescent petiole. Leaves ovate elongated glabrous and mucronate borne by a short pubescent pedicel. Opposite ribs. Leaf blade with entire margin. Sickle-shaped and pubescent stipules at the base of the petiole. The inflorescences are arranged in terminal spikes. White to pinkish flowers. Calix pubescent with 5 triangular teeth. Corolla typical Fabaceae (4 distinct petals: hull, standard, wings). The fruit is a flat, flattened, pubescent pod with a bill at its tip. Calyx and pod are covered with a characteristic brown pubescence.

General habit

Erect, herbaceous to subligneous plant, 0.5 to 1.5 m high.

Underground system

The root is a deep taproot.

Stem

The stem is cylindrical, solid, covered with a dense coat of simple brownish hairs.

Leaf

The leaves are alternate, imperipinnate compounds with 15 to 25 leaflets. The petiole is 0.7 to 1.3 cm long, with two narrowly triangular stipules at the base, 6 to 11 mm long, persistent and acuminate at the apex. The rachis is 6 to 10 cm long. The leaflets are oblong - lanceolate or elliptical, 2.2 to 3.2 cm long and 0.5 to 0.8 cm wide. The terminal leaflet is longer than the laterals. The apex is mucronate and the base broadly cunate or rounded. The upper face is glabrous, the lower face is covered with greyish, appressed single hairs. The venation is pinnate with 9-11 pairs of visible secondary veins.

Inflorescence

The inflorescence is an erect, 15-25 cm long terminal raceme bearing numerous scattered flowers in groups of 1-3 along the axis.

Flower

The flower is borne on a 2-4 mm long pedicel. The calyx is 5 mm long, with 5 unequal teeth (the lower one longer and narrower, the upper ones shorter and wider). It is covered with brown pubescence. The corolla is 1 cm long, papilionaceous, white, yellow or purple. The standard is orbicular with a brown pubescence on the upper side.

Fruit

The fruit is a flat, straight linear pod, 4.5-5 cm long and 0.5 cm wide with a strong brown pubescence. The tip ends in a sharp, curved point. The pod contains 7 to 9 seeds.

Seed

The seeds are kidney-shaped, 4 mm long and 2.5 mm wide, black in colour and generally transversely rough.

 

Origin

Tephrosia noctiflora is native to tropical Africa, Madagascar and western Indian subcontinent.

Worldwide distribution

This species is largely naturalized in the tropics. It was introduced in the early 19th century in Mauritius and Reunion and in the 1940s in New Caledonia. It is present in Brasil, South East Asia and Australia.

https://www.gbif.org/fr/species/5342209