Fabaceae

Elephant's foot

Mimosoideae

A shrublet with erect, usually unbranched, annual stems up to 500 mm tall. These emanate from a large, underground, perennial rootstock. The branchlets are usually hairless. The leaves are bipinnate. The flowers are found in dense, elongated spikes that arise at ground level. The flower stalks have a zone of weakness near the middle and also have minute reddish-brown glands at the base. The pods are compressed and transversely veined. The valves separate from the persistent margins when the pod opens.

E. elephantina occurs in open grassy slopes and hillsides in savanna and grassland where it may form dense stands.

E. elephantina is a native species.

A spring-flowering species.

None known

Van Wyk, E. & Malan, S. 1988. Field guide to the wild flowers of the Witwatersrand and Pretoria region. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, South Africa.