Ornithopus sativus Brot.
French Serradella

Scientific Description

Twining or climbing plants. Stems terete, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, compound, alternate, not continuous with stem, 20-110 mm long, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent, leaflets 7-39, pinnately arranged, terminal leaflet present, stalked; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves. Pedicel present, 0.5-1 mm long, hairy. Calyx 4-6 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 7-10.5 mm long, uniformly coloured, pink; claws present; standard 7-9.5 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 6.5-7 mm long, not auriculate, keel 6-8 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments united in an open sheath with one free stamen, 2.6-3 mm long. Ovary sessile or subsessile, glabrous; style 3.7-4 mm long, glabrous, not bearded, terete. Fruit indehiscent and splitting into sections (schizocarps), 15-25 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, sessile or subsessile, constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, hairy, with simple hairs, not beaked. Flowers in March, August, September, October and November. Occurs in the South-West Botanical Province, in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest, Esperance and Swan Coastal Plain IBRA regions.