Ploughbreaker | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Scientific classification
![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Fabales |
Family: | Fabaceae |
Subfamily: | Faboideae |
Genus: | Erythrina |
Species: | E. zeyheri
|
Binomial name | |
Erythrina zeyheri |
Erythrina zeyheri, commonly known as the ploughbreaker, is a deciduous, geoxylic subshrub and member of the Fabaceae, which is endemic to southern Africa. It grows no more than 60 cm tall [1] and occurs naturally in the higher elevation grasslands of South Africa's central plateau, and that of adjacent Lesotho. [2] They favour deep clay soil in the vicinity of creeks and marshes, and often form colonies. [1] Its specific name commemorates the 19th century botanist, Karl Zeyher.
It is a geoxylic plant, sometimes called an "underground tree", [3] that produces annual stems, some 50 to 60 cm long. [4] It has glabrous, leathery, trifoliolate leaves with large leaflets. The rachis and main leaf venation, which are prominently raised below, are armed with recurved spines on both leaf surfaces. [5] The petioles and stems are likewise armed to discourage browsers. The shoots and leaves are deciduous, dying away during harsh highveld winters, [1] when the plant survives as an extensive woody, tuberous rootstock.
The upright inflorescences appear in summer, with the leaves, [4] from October to January. [1] The drooping scarlet, or rarely white flowers, [5] are capped by a red calyxes. Their fruit are smooth black pods when mature, each containing a few large (1.0 to 1.7 cm long) seeds. [4] These are hard and orange-red in colour. [1] [5]
It is a foodplant for the moth Terastia margaritis. [6]
Media related to
Erythrina zeyheri at Wikimedia Commons