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Leguminosae
Synonyms
Glycine sublobata Schumach.; R. melanosperma Klotzsch.; R.
caribaea sensu Baker in part, non (Jacq.) DC.
Common names
Munkolo (Zambia).
Description
A perennial, prostrate or climbing legume with stems up to
or more than 2 m long, growing from a long, stout, woody root-stock. Stems
glabrescent to densely pubescent. Three leaflets, rhomboid, elliptic or
ovate, 1.8 to 8 cm long, 1.8 to 8.5 cm wide, rounded at both ends, often
slightly lobed at the base, the laterals on the outer side glabrescent
to pubescent, rarely velvety. Petiole 1.2 to 6 cm long. Petiolules 1 to
2 mm. Stipules lanceolate, 5 to 6 mm long x 2 mm wide, hairy. Inflorescence
lax. Rachis 3.5 to 20 cm long. Peduncles 2 to 14 cm long. Pedicels 1.5
to 4 mm long. Flowers 14 to 16, opening in the early evening. Calyx pubescent
and glandular, tube 3 mm long, lobes linear-lanceolate to oblong-triangular,
2.5 to 6 mm long. Standard deep yellow or cream with a reddish-brown or
purplish veining outside, 0.8 to 2.2 cm long. Wings yellow. Keel greenish
yellow, usually purplish at the apex. Pods oblong-falcate, inflated very
characteristically when ripe, 2.1 to 3 cm long, 0.8 to 1.3 to 1.3 cm wide,
narrowed to the base, shortly pubescent or puberulent and glandular but
without long hairs. Seeds dark brown, mottled black or entirely black,
rounded-reniform, 4.3 to 5 x 3.5 to 3.8 mm, 2.5 to 3.2 mm thick, microscopically
roughened (Gillett, Polhill and Verdcourt, 1971).
Distribution
R. sublobata is native from West Africa (Senegal) to Namibia;
from central Africa to Zaire; and from the Sudan and Somalia to the Transvaal
and Swaziland. It probably also occurs on Great Comoro Island and Madagascar
(Gillett, Polhill and Verdcourt, 1971).
Main reference
Craufurd and Prins (1979).
General features
The main habitats of munkolo are grasslands with scattered
trees and woodlands, or abandoned cultivations from sea level to 1800 m
in elevation (Gillett, Polhill and Verdcourt, 1971). It is widespread in
the natural grasslands over large areas of southern and central Zambia,
where it is regarded as a valuable native legume (Craufurd and Prins, 1979).
It is frost and fire resistant, regrowing from the larger stems and from
below ground during September/October (the end of the dry season), during
which time it is freely grazed.
Parts of the areas in Zambia in which it grows suit also glycine and
siratro. In spaced plants and swards, growth habit and protein levels were
similar to those of glycine and siratro (Craufurd and Prins, 1979). The
weight of 1 000 seeds varied from 45.0 to 71.0 g (mean = 59.6 g), compared
with 14.0 g for siratro and 7.8 g for glycine. Seed production appears
to require bee pollination (Craufurd and Prins, 1979).
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