Crotalaria saharae Coss.
Eng.: Rattlepod, rattlebox. Ara.: Fula, el-fula, fül el-lbâl. Tamahaq: Aferfer, afarfar, afaerrafaer.
Perennial plant or subshrub with ± herbaceous branches, up to 60 cm, extended or erect stems, slightly woody at the base, covered by a dense tomentum of whitish hairs, pointing downwards. Leaves digitally compound, petiole 6-20 mm long, with (3)5(7) leaflets, 25 × 6 mm, subsessile, oblong, somewhat attenuated at the base, obtuse and mucronate at the apex, densely villous-silky on both sides, more silvery on the upper side. Stipules c. 1.5 mm, linear, acute, villous. Inflorescences in racemes of 8-10(30) flowers, up to 22 cm long, terminal or axillary on the leaves, lax, pedunculated. Flowers with pedicels 1-4 mm, villous, which grow in the axil of a linear bract and have 2 bracteoles at the apex, beneath the calyx. Calyx 5-7 mm, with 5 subequal teeth up to halfway of its length. Corolla c. 7 mm, papilionoid, golden yellow; standard yellow, with brown-reddish venation highly prominent, and pubescent dorsal side; wings glabrous, as long as the standard and slightly shorter than the keel; keel greenish-yellow. Androecium monadelphous, with stamens glabrous, concrescent towards halfway, with anthers alternating between linear basifixed and ovoid dorsifixed. Ovary densely villous. Pod ± pendant, coriaceous, inflated, silky, considerably longer than the marcescent calyx. Seeds 5-6 × 1.5-5 mm, reniform, smooth, brown, matt or somewhat shinny.
Flowering:
March to April and after sporadic summer rains.
Fruiting:
April to June.
Habitat:
Dayas with phreatic humidity and desert river beds, rocky pastures, sandy plains and hamadas in mountainous deserts. Sandy plains and depressions of dry rivers in desert and semidesert areas.
Distribution:
Endemic to the Sahara. It grows in the northern Sahara, from the Atlantic Sahara to Libya; it seems to be absent in Tunisia. It has been cited in the Jebel Bani (along the foothills of the Saharan Atlas), common in the suboceanic region, central Sahara (common S of Tademaït and in the Tinghert Hamada), in several places of Mauritania and in central-western Libya.
Conservation status:
A rare but widely distributed species, not considered threatened. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In the Livre Rouge de la flore vasculaire du Maroc (Fennane, 2021) it has been considered as Least Concern (LC).