Stain Pod

grahamiana: uncertain, possibly named after Robert C. Graham (1786-1845), an early English botanist

Perennial herb or woody subshrub, erect or subscandent, up to 2.5m high. Branches ribbed, covered with silky hairs when young. Leaves 3-foliate, up to 15 cm long, dull green above, pubescent and paler below, both surfaces with small reddish glands. Flowers in dense woolly clusters, greenish to creamy-white, sometimes with purple veining. Fruit a small inflated pod, up to 12 × 6 mm, covered in rusty-orange glands, leaving stains on touching.

Common

Widespread in Tropical Africa, Northern Province, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Also as far as southern India.