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Common name: Rattleweed, shak-shak, Rattlebox, wedge-leaf, Ghunghunia घुनघुनिया (Hindi), கிலுகிலுப்பை Kilukiluppai (Tamil), Matrghatini (Malayalam), Gagra (Marathi), Ghughra (Gujarati), Guluguluppahalli (Kannada), Pottigilligichacha (Telugu)
Botanical name: Crotalaria retusa Family: Fabaceae (pea family)
Crotalaria is a genus of herbaceous plants and woody shrubs in the pea family,
commonly known as rattlepods. Some species of
Crotalaria are grown as ornamentals. The common name rattlepod or rattlebox is
derived from the fact that the seeds become loose in the pod as they mature,
and rattle when the pod is shaken. It is an erect herb, annual or short-lived
perennial, one to three feet high, sparingly branched. Leaves are alternate,
simple, entire, oblanceloate-oblong, apex being more or less awned. Flowers in
a terminal erect raceme, to one foot long, golden yellow, standard with
brown-purple lines inside. The fruit is a pod, blackish when ripe, containing
yellowish to brown seeds.
| Photographed in New Delhi |
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