Shrubs or undershrubs, often spinescent, glandular-villous or viscid
Leaves petiolate, digitately 3-foliolate; stipules often foliaceous, semisagittate or semicordate at base
Flowers usually small, in short, terminal spikes or racemes; bracts often foliaceous
Calyx with campanulate tube, shortly or deeply 2-lipped; upper lip bipartite; lower lip trifid or 3-toothed, glandular or hairy, rarely glabrous
Petals: vexillum with a channelled claw; keel planoconvex, sometimes gibbous, shorter than wings and vexillum, clawed; wings clawed
Stamens monadelphous; tube split to base; anthers unequal
Ovary sessile or shortly stalked, with 1 to several ovules; sometimes glandular or hairy; style incurved; stigma terminal, capitate
Pod linear or oblong, compressed, often torulose, usually glandular or villous, 2-valved
Seeds on short funicles
x = 8, 9 (polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
Melolobium Eckl. & Zeyh.
Ecklon & Zeyher: 188 (1836)
Harvey: 77 (1862)
Distribution & Notes:
Southern Africa: Species ± 20, widespread, prominent in arid parts
References:
ECKLON, C.F. & ZEYHER, K.L.P. 1836. Enumeratio plantarum africae australis extratropicae 2. Perthes & Besser, Hamburg
HARVEY, W.H. 1862. Leguminosae. Flora capensis 2
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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.
The system is still under development, so you may find a few bugs/issues. If you do, please report it via the error reporting button available in various sections of the website or provide us with any useful feedback you may have via the ‘Give us feedback’ option available in the sidebar menu. You can create a free account for yourself by clicking on the user profile icon which will take you through to the login page. Here you can choose the ‘Create an account’ option or simply fill in your details if you have an account already. Having an account on Biodiversity Advisor will provide users with free access to biodiversity resources.
In future, Team SANBI will be able to log in using their day-to-day login details, BGIS users will be able to use their existing accounts and details, and general users will be able to log in using their LinkedIn profile, but for now you will need to create an account.
