TRIPODION TETRAPHYLLUM

Family and Genus:- See- LEGUMINOSAE

Common Names:- Bladder vetch

Homotypic Synonyms:- Anthyllis tetraphylla, Physanthyllis tetraphylla,

Tripodion lotoides, Vulneraria tetraphylla.

Meaning:- Tripodion (L) With three small feet.

Tetraphyllum (Gr) Four leaved, with leaves in fours.

General description:- Procumbent, villous to hirsute annual.

Stems:-

1) Villous-hirsute.

Leaves:-

1) Imparipinnate, with (1-)5 leaflets, rhachis, rather flat and broad;

2) Leaflets, (2-)4, the lateral very unequal, usually 1 on one side of the rhachis and

2 on the other, terminal leaflet larger than lateral.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescences, subsessile, with 3-8 flowers subtended by an involucre.

2) Calyx, 12-15 x 4·5-6 mm, inflated at anthesis, later up to 12 mm wide, gibbous,

especially so in fruit, sericeous, frequently reddish near the apex.

a) teeth, subequal.

b) mouth, straight

3) Corolla, usually 3-coloured:

a) standard, hairy on the back, cream or pale yellow.

b) wings, yellow.

c) keel, white with a red apex.

Fruit:-

1) Legume, usually 2-seeded, constricted between the seeds: entirely contained in

the persistent calyx.

Key Features:-

1) Calyx, ± equally 5-toothed, the mouth straight.

2) Legume, 2-seeded, constricted between the seeds.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Dry open shrubby vegetation, olive groves, roadsides and fallow fields,

mainly over limestone. 0-600(-1000) m.

Distribution:- Widespread in the Mediterranean Region. Widespread across Crete.

Flowering time:- Late Mar to early June.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton