Lotus namulensis Brand

namulensis: of Namuli in Mozambique (Zambezia)

Perennial herb with annual stems growing from a woody rootstock. Stems erect or ascending, quadrangular and grooved, up to 40 cm long, usually flowering when much shorter, sometimes covered with long spreading hairs. Leaves with 5 leaflets, rarely 3-4; basal leaflets asymmetrically ovate, apical leaflets narrower, oblanceolate, hairless to sparsely hairy on both surfaces but with long spreading hairs on the midrib and margin. flowers in 4-8-flowered umbels; peduncle 35-110 mm long. Corolla white, often tinged with pink. Pods terete, up to 38 mm, purplish-grey.

Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and northern S Africa