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Colutea persica Boiss.

Modern name

Colutea persica Boiss.

A deciduous shrub 6 to 8 ft high; young shoots glabrous, pale. Leaves pinnate, 112 to 3 in. long, made up of five to eleven leaflets, which are obovate or obcordate, tapered to the base, broad at the apex and either rounded or indented there, 14 to 12 in. long, glabrous or sparingly downy beneath. Racemes of three or four flowers, each about 34 in. long, pure yellow, the wing-petals longer than the keel; calyx funnel-shaped with five sharp teeth. Pod inflated, glabrous, 112 to 2 in. long, open at the end.

Native of Persia and Kurdistan. It resembles C. orientalis in foliage, although not so glaucous, and that species has brownish-red flowers. Baskets and panniers are made of its branchlets in Persia.

var. buhsei Boiss. – Pods furnished with appressed hairs; leaves and flowers somewhat larger.


Genus

Colutea

Other species in the genus