Hedysarum coronarium L.
sulla
Scrambling or ± erect perennial herb; stem ribbed, almost glabrous to densely clothed in appressed hairs. Lvs almost glabrous or moderately clothed in appressed hairs below; stipules triangular, acuminate, sometimes with a basal lobe; leaflets subsessile, elliptic to obovate, obtuse, usually shortly mucronate, in 3-5 ± opposite pairs, 15-35-(45) mm long. Infl. racemose, = or > lvs, many-flowered; bracts subtending pedicels ovate to lanceolate, 3-8 mm long; pedicels c. 2 mm long. Calyx sparsely to moderately hairy; calyx teeth = or > tube, narrowly triangular, acuminate. Corolla crimson, 12-18 mm long. Pod 5-15 mm long, with 1-4, glabrous, densely spinous segments; seeds smooth, brown.
N.: between Mercer and Meremere, and Whakatane (S. Auckland), Tatapouri (Gisborne), Mangaweka (Wellington); S.: Lincoln and Timaru (Canterbury).
C. and W. Mediterranean 1912
Waste places, cultivated land.
FL Nov-Feb.
Sulla is not truly established as a naturalised plant in N.Z., although it has been recorded as a rare, casual escape from cultivation and as a seed impurity. However, as it is now being used to control erosion and on road cuttings, more records in the wild can be expected. The lomentaceous, spinous pod (Fig. 60) distinguishes sulla from all other wild N.Z. legumes.
