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Prostrate Rattlepod
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Prostrate Rattlepod
ative Photo: Krishan Lal
Common name: Prostrate Rattlepod • Hindi: छुनछुनी Chhunchhuni • Kannada: Balli gejje gida • Nepali: सानो बोक्सीबाजा Saano boksibaajaa • Oriya: samjhumka • Telugu: serigallygista • Nepali: सानो बोक्सीबाजा Saano Boksi bajaa, सानो छेके Saano Chheke
Botanical name: Crotalaria prostrata    Family: Fabaceae (Pea family)

Prostrate Rattlepod is a prostrate annual herb, 15-50 cm long. Branches are velvety, hairs silky. Leaves are simple, about 1.8-3.8 cm long, about 1-2 cm broad, oblong or oblong-obovate, blunt, oblique or somewhat heart-shaped at the base, velvet-hairy on both sides, hairs silky, yellowish. Flowers are borne in a 2-4-flowered raceme, carried on stalks longer than the leaf. Bract and bracteoles minute. Flower-stalks are short. Sepal tube is 3-4.5 mm long, densely velvety, teeth linear. Flowers are yellowish, or whitish, not exserted. Seed-pod is about 1.2-1.6 cm long, inflated, hairless, 12-15-seeded. Prostrate Rattlepod is found in the Himalayas, from Hazara to Sikkim, Ceylon, Malaysia, at atitudes of 500-2000 m. Flowering: October-November.

Identification credit: Krishan Lal Photographed in Sirmaur Distt., Himachal Pradesh.

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