Common Name: Velcro Pea
Description: Perennial herbs or shrubs.
Leaves alternate, 1-foliolate or pinnately 3-foliolate; stipules persistent; stipellate.
Inflorescences terminal or axillary, densely flowered, spike-like racemes; bracts present. Calyx tube short; unequally 5-toothed, the upper 2 teeth shorter (becoming lower ones by inflexing of the pedicel). Standard ovovate, clawed; wings and keel clawed. Stamens diadelphous; filaments alternatvely long and short; anthers unform. Overy with 2 (or more) ovules; style inflexed.
Pods a loment, constricted between seeds, enclosed in calyx; articles 1 or more, indehiscent, folded back on each other, seeds not arillate.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 35 species, tropical Africa, south-east Asia to Australia and Pacific Islands. Australia: 3 species (native), Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales.
Text by G.J. Harden
Taxon concept: Flora of NSW (2) revised edn (2002)
| One species in NSW: Uraria lagopodioides |
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