Fringed Smithia is an annual herb, 0.5-2 ft tall.
Stems and branchlets are slender, hairless. Stipules are lanceshaped,
about 8 mm, membranous. Leaves are compound with 10-14-leaflets,
carried on 1.5-2 cm long stalks. Rachis is 1.5-3 cm, stalks of
leaflets less than 1 mm. Leaflets are inverted-lanceshaped to
linear-oblong, 6-12 × 2-4 mm, tip blunt to rounded. Flowers are borne
in scorpioid cymes, often with 12 or more flowers in cluster, in leaf
axils or at branch ends. Bracts are stipule-shaped, almost as long as
sepal-cup, margin frilly. Bracteoles are lanceshaped, 4-5 mm, with
trichomes. Sepal-cup 4-8 mm, membranous, with reticulate veins, margin
densely setose. Flowers are yellow or white, slightly longer than
sepal-cup; standard petal is obovate, about 5 mm wide; wings and keels
small, straight, eared. Pods are shortly stipitate, divided into 6-8
articles; articles almost spherical, 1-1.5 mm, densely papillate.
Fringed Smithia is found in the Himalayas, from Shimla to Sikkim,
Khasia mountains, SE Asia, China and Japan at altitudes of 1200-2800 m.
Flowering: August-September.
Identification credit: Gurcharan Singh
Photographed on Mussoorie-Chakrata Road, Uttarakhand.
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The flower labeled Fringed Smithia is ...