Flowers in lax axillary racemes, bracteate or rarely ebracteate
Calyx with tube; lobes subequal, shorter than tube
Petals: vexillum sessile; wings gibbous, with linear claw; keel clawed, sometimes with 2 segments connate
Stamens diadelphous; anthers uniform
Ovary sessile or stalked, many-ovuled; style straight or incurved, with small, terminal stigma
Pod 2-valved, completely or incompletely divided longitudinally into 2 locules by introflexion of carinal suture
Seeds often reniform, on filiform funicle
x = 8 (10, 11, 13) (B-chromosomes, high polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
Astragalus L.
Linnaeus: 755 (1753)
Harvey: 224 (1862)
Gillett: 413 (1964)
Gillett: 1054 (1971)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species 2 000, mainly northern hemisphere, abundant in temperate Asia
Southern Africa: Species 1: Astragalus atropilosulus (Hochst.) Burge subsp. burkeanus (Harv.) Gillett var. burkeanus, the four northern provinces into KwaZulu-Natal
References:
GILLETT, J.B. 1964. Astragalus L. (Leguminosae) in the highlands of tropical Africa. Kew Bulletin 17
GILLETT, J.B. 1971. Flora of tropical East Africa. Leguminosae (part 4). Papilionoideae (continued)
HARVEY, W.H. 1862. Leguminosae. Flora capensis 2
LINNAEUS, C. 1753. Species plantarum, edn 1. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
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Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
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