Anil Racimillo

Cracca cathartica (Sesse & Moc) Rydberg
Galega cathartica Sesse & Moc. Fl. Mex. ed. 2. 175. 1894 Cratca Schottii Vail. Bull. Torrev Club 22: 25. 1895. Tephrosia cathartica Urban, Symb. Ant. 4: 283. 1905.
A perennial, somewhat woody below; stem 3-5 dm. long, strigose, erect or decumbent, angled; leaves 4-10 cm. long; stipules 4-7 mm. long, subulate, persistent; petioles 1-2.5 cm. long; rachis strigose; leaflets 5, oblong-oblanceolate to obovate, 1-3 cm. long, rounded or
* This description does not fully agree with the original one but it has been drawn from Oersted's specimens, collected near Realejo, Nicaragua, and so named by Bentham, and from several similar Mexican and Central American specimens. retuse at the apex, cuneate at the base, strigose on both sides, usually sericeous beneath; racemes opposite the leaves, lax, few-flowered, including the peduncle 5-15 cm. long; flowers 1 or 2 at each node; bracts subulate, 7-10 mm. long; calyx strigose, the tube 2 mm. long, the lobes lance-subulate, nearly 3 mm. long; corolla rose-purple, 7-10 mm. long; banner suborbieular, short-clawed, strigose on the back; wings broadly obliquely oblanceolate, with an acute basal auricle; pod 3-5 cm. long, 4-5 mm. wide, straight, strigose, 6-8-seeded; seed brownish, mottled, 3.5-4 mm. long, 2.5 mm. broad.
Type LOCALITY: Porto Rico.
Distribution: Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, Lesser Antilles; Yucatan and Honduras; also in Colombia.

Perennial, Herbs, Stems woody below, or from woody crown or caudex, Taproot present, Nodules present, Stems erect or ascending, Stems or branches arching, spreading or decumbent, Stems less than 1 m tall, Stems 1-2 m tall, Stems greater than 2 m tall, Stems solid, Stems or young twigs sparsely to densely hairy, Stem hairs hispid to villous, Leaves alternate, Leaves petiolate, Stipules conspicuous, Stipules setiform, subulate or acicular, Stipules persistent, Stipules free, Leaves compound, Leaves odd pinnate, Leaf or leaflet margins entire, Leaflets o pposite, Leaflets 5-9, Leaflets 10-many, Leaves hairy on one or both surfaces, Inflorescences racemes, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence leaf-opposed, Bracts conspicuously present, Flowers zygomorphic, Calyx 5-lobed, Calyx hairy, Petals separate, Corolla papilionaceous, Petals clawed, Petals red, Petals blue, lavander to purple, or violet, Banner petal ovoid or obovate, Banner petal suborbicular, broadly rounded, Wing petals narrow, oblanceolate to oblong, Wing petals auriculate, Wing tips obtuse or rounded, Keel petals auriculate, spurred, or gibbous, Keel tips obtuse or rounded, not beaked, Stamens 9-10, Stamens diadelphous, 9 united, 1 free, Filaments glabrous, Style terete, Style sharply bent, Style hairy, Style hairy on one side only, Fruit a legume, Fruit unilocular, Fruit freely dehiscent, Fruit elongate, straight, Fruit exserted from calyx, Valves twisting or coiling after dehiscence, Fruit beaked, Fruit hairy, Fruit 3-10 seeded, Seeds ovoid to rounded in outline , Seed surface smooth, Seeds olive, brown, or black, Seed surface mottled or patchy.