Ornithopus sativus subsp. sativus
French SerradellaProstrate or ascending annual herb to 50 cm tall; stems usually branched high up, pubescent. Leaves imparipinnate; leaflets 19–35, lanceolate to elliptic, 4–13 mm long, 3–6 mm wide, pubescent on both surfaces, entire, apices obtuse, often minutely mucronate; stipules to c. 2 mm long. Inflorescences 2–5-flowered umbels; peduncles mostly 2.5–5.5 cm long; bracts leafy, pinnate, shorter than flowers. Flowers on pedicels to c. 1 mm long; calyx 4–6 mm long, hairy, teeth slightly shorter than or as long as tube; corolla 6–9 mm long, white to pink; standard oblong; wings oblong; keel obtuse, shorter than wings. Pod linear, 12–25 mm long, c. 2.5 mm wide, compressed, straight or slightly curved, glabrous or hairy, constricted between articles; beak filiform, to c. 5 mm long; articles 3–7; seeds ovoid, c. 1 mm long, brown. Flowers spring–summer.
GipP. Also naturalised WA, SA, NSW, Tas. A fodder plant favouring light sandy soils, apparently naturalized near Horsham, Tarwin Lower and Yallourn.
Ball (1968) and Wiersema et al. (1990) recognize 2 subspecies differing mainly in pod characteristics. Subsp. sativus has straight or slightly curved pods, 12–25 mm long, and with a straight beak (sometimes hooked at the tip) to 5 mm long. Subsp. isthmocarpus (Coss.) Dostál has curved pods, 20–40 mm long, with a curved beak 10 mm or more in length. All Victorian material is referable to the former taxon, but intermediates between the subspecies occur in Europe.
Jeanes, J.A. (1996). Fabaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 663–829. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning