紫雀花属 zi que hua shu

Perennial herbs, prostrate to ascending, rooting at nodes, sometimes with tubers. Leaves palmately 3-foliolate; stipules entire, free to basally adnate to petiole; petiole long; leaflets obcordate, base narrowly to broadly cuneate, margin entire or toothed. Inflo­rescence umbellate; peduncle axillary, erect or deflexed in fruit; pedicel bases bracteate; flowers 1-3. Calyx teeth ± equal to tube, upper 2 connate for most of their length. Corolla not adnate to stamens; standard obovate, tapering into a claw; wings falcate-oblong, auriculate; keel broadly triangular-falcate, shorter than wings, apex straight or abruptly inflexed, acute. Stamens diadelphous; fila­ments capillary. Ovary sessile, glabrous; ovules numerous. Legume linear-ovate, longer than calyx, apex obliquely acute. Seeds nu­merous, brown, reniform, often spotted; hilum small, round and lateral.

Two species: E Africa, C and S Asia; one species in China.

Lower Taxon

• Parochetus communis Buchanan-Hamilton ex D. Don