Crotalaria lanceolata E. Mey.

Lance Leaf Rattlebox

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Lance Leaf Rattlebox is an introduced herbaceous annual in the Bean family (Fabaceae). It is native to tropical Africa. In Alabama in can be found in the southern third of the state. Lance Leaf Rattlebox grows in fields, on roadsides, in pastures, and in other disturbed or ruderal sites. It is an annual with a taproot. The stems are erect, 2-4 feet in height, ribbed, branched above the middle, green in color, and pubescent. Leaves are alternate, petiolate, and trifoliate. The leaflets are lanceolate to linear in outline, entire, and pubescent below. Flowers are produced in long many-flowered racemes opposite a leaf. They often appear terminal or axillary. Individual flowers are pedicellate and papilionaceous. The corolla is yellow and red- or orange-suffused, especially as they age. The fruit is a black, pubescent, cylindrical legume. The fruit is scarcely inflated. Lance Leaf Rattlebox is sometimes planted as a green manure or cover crop. Although no specific information is available on this species, many Crotalaria species contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids and are toxic if consumed.--A. Diamond

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Not Native

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