Ornithopus perpusillus L.
wild serradella
Spreading prostrate annual; stems sparsely to moderately hairy, ribbed. Lvs moderately to densely hairy; leaflets sessile, elliptic or oblong, acute or obtuse, in (5)-7-12-(14) pairs, sometimes alternate, 1-3-(4) mm long; stipules adnate to petiole, lanceolate. Heads 2-6-flowered; bracts subtending the heads with 5-9 leaflets; bracteoles subtending fls minute, scarious; peduncles <, =, or > lvs. Calyx moderately hairy; calyx teeth triangular, much < tube. Corolla white or cream with red or pink stripes on standard, 3-5 mm long. Pod densely hairy when young, becoming less hairy when mature, sometimes glabrous, constricted between seeds, veined, curved or straight, compressed, 10-20 mm long, with (1)-4-9, 1-seeded segments; seeds smooth, light brown.
N.: locally common from Waikato and Bay of Plenty northwards, also collected from Oakura (Taranaki) and Taita (Wellington); S.: common in S.W. Nelson and Westland, also collected from Woodside (Otago), Milford and Invercargill.
W. and W.C. Europe, W. Russia 1907
Waste places and pasture, often in gravel, sand, or stony ground, most common in wetter western areas.
FL Sep-Mar.
Ball, P. W., in Fl. Europ. 2 (1968), described the bracts subtending the head as shorter than the fls in O. sativus but much longer than the fls in O. perpusillus. In N.Z. material of O. perpusillus, the bracts are often much reduced although plants match O. perpusillus in all other characters. Plants with reduced bracts may be distinguished from O. pinnatus by the constricted pods (Fig. 67).
