Eriosema buchananii Baker f.
var. buchananii

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Picture: Bart Wursten
By Circular Drive, Nyanga NP

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Synonyms:	Eriosema richardii Baker f. & Haydon var. ovatum Staner & De Craene
Common names:
Frequency:	Locally frequent
Status:	Native
Description:	Shrubby perennial herb, 50-150 cm high, growing from a woody rootstock. Stems more or less erect, densely covered in spreading yellowish hairs. Leaves mostly 3-foliolate; leaflets 1-9 cm long, ovate-lanceolate to almost round; lateral leaflets often obliquely elliptic, appresed woolly hairy above and on the raised veins beneath, also often with scattered small orange glands; petiole 2-10 mm long. Stipules 8-18 mm long, ovate to onlong-lanceolate, often falcate, hairy and closely veined. Flowers in axillary racemes 2-9 cm long on peduncles up to 20 cm long, densely covered in spreading yellowish-brown hairs. Calyx 5-6 mm long, dark-purplish, covered in spreading woolly hairs and dotted with glands. Standard 8-13 mm long oblong, cream, pink or white and purple, often lined with purple, rarely yellow; wings white or cream; keel greenish-brown. Pods broadly ovate-oblong, 12-14 mm long, covered in long hairs, short hairs and glands.
Type location:	Malawi, Shire Highlands
Notes:	The variety is upheld here since we agree with Burrows & Willis (Sabonet Report 31: 159, 2005) to maintain very distinctly prostrate var. subprostratum Verdc. from Southern Tanzania and northern Malawi and Zambia (Nyika only).
Derivation of specific name:	buchananii: after John Buchanan (1855 – 1896), Scottish horticulturist, missionary, farmer and plant collector in Malawi, who became Acting British Consul to Central Africa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Buchanan_(settler).
Habitat:	Montane grassland, swampy grassland and streamsides.
Altitude range:	1590 - 2400 m
Flowering time:
Worldwide distribution:	Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mpumalanga, South Africa.
Zambian distribution (Flora Zambesiaca):	N
Zambian distribution (Provinces):	Mc
Growth form(s):
Endemic status:
Red data list status:
Insects associated with this species:
Spot characters:	Display spot characters for this species
Literature:	Baumann, G. (2005). Photographic Guide to Wildflowers of Malawi Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi Pages 30 - 31. (Includes a picture). Burrows, J.E. & Willis, C.K. (eds) (2005). Plants of the Nyika Plateau Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 31 SABONET, Pretoria Page 159. as Eriosema buchananii buchananii and Eriosema buchananii subprostratum Da Silva, M.C., Izidine, S. & Amude, A.B. (2004). A preliminary checklist of the vascular plants of Mozambique. Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 30 Sabonet, Pretoria Page 68. Drummond, R.B. (1972). A list of Rhodesian Legumes. Kirkia 8(2) Page 220. Mackinder, B. et al. (2001). Papilionoideae Flora Zambesiaca 3(5) Page 223. Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 48. Phiri, P.S.M. (2005). A Checklist of Zambian Vascular Plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 32 Page 60.

Other sources of information about Eriosema buchananii var. buchananii:

Our websites:

Flora of Malawi: Eriosema buchananii var. buchananii
Flora of Mozambique: Eriosema buchananii var. buchananii
Flora of Zimbabwe: Eriosema buchananii var. buchananii

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Eriosema buchananii
African Plant Database: Eriosema buchananii
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Eriosema buchananii
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Eriosema buchananii
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Eriosema buchananii
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Eriosema buchananii
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Eriosema buchananii
JSTOR Plant Science: Eriosema buchananii
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Eriosema buchananii
Plants of the World Online: Eriosema buchananii
Tropicos: Eriosema buchananii
Wikipedia: Eriosema buchananii