Hippocrepis constricta Kunze

Mediterranean region, eastern desert, Res Sea coastal strip and Sinai.

Egypt, Palestine, Arabia, Iran, Pakistan.

Sandy plains, limestone hills, edges of cultivation.

Annual.

Annual, prostrate herb, branches scantily pubescent. Leaf pinnately compound, petiole c. 16 mm or less long, scantily pubescent; leaflets 5-7, c. 10 mm or less long, c. 4 mm or less broad, obovate-elliptic, entire, obtuse to retuse, glabrous to subglabrous. Inflorescence a 2-3-flowered axillary or pedunculate cluster; peduncle c. 2 cm or less long. Bracts less than 1 mm. Pedicel c. 1 mm long. Calyx c. 2.5 mm long, glabrous, teeth subequal, c. 1.5 mm long. Vexillum c. 3.5 mm long. Fruit 2-2.5 cm long, 3-3.5 mm broad, glabrous with raised veins, up to 6-seeded.

Distribution: Pakistan, S.Arabia and Egypt.

Fl.Per.: February-March.