Flora of New Zealand Series

grass vetchling

Erect or ascending annual; stems ± glabrous, somewhat angled, but not winged. Lf a grass-like phyllode without leaflets or a tendril, ± glabrous or sparsely hairy, 30-120 mm long; veins parallel; stipules often caducous, filiform, < 1/2 as wide as stem, up to 2 mm long. Infl. < or = to phyllodes, 1-2-flowered; pedicels 2-6 mm long. Calyx sparsely hairy, slightly or not gibbous at base; calyx teeth somewhat unequal, triangular, < tube. Corolla crimson, 8-18 mm long. Pod glabrous, light brown, (4)-6-20-seeded, 25-55 mm long; seeds reddish brown, somewhat squared, tuberculate; hilum 1/7-1/10 of circumference.

N.: near Elsthorpe and Patangata (Hawke's Bay); S.: Quail Id (Banks Peninsula).

W. and C. Europe, Mediterranean 1904

Roadside banks.

FL Dec.

Plants of L. nissolia are inconspicuous and grass-like when not flowering.