Christia FABACEAE 57 
flower c. 2.5 mm long, in fruit pale, membranous 
and reticulately veined, 7-8.5 mm long, the lobes c. 
1/2 total length. Corolla purple, glabrous; standard 
not clawed, orbicular or obovate, 4-5 mm diam. 
Stamens 9+1; filaments alternately long and short; 
anthers dorsifixed and versatile. Ovary shortly 
stipitate, glabrous, 3-ovuled; style with occasional 
hairs at base, strongly geniculate, expanded in upper 
part; stigma capitate, minute. Pod articulated, white 
or grey, concertina’d, shorter than calyx, glabrous, 
venation reticulate; articles 3, inflated, indehiscent, 
2.5-3 mm long. Flowering and fruiting: Feb - June. 
Fig. 18 
Australian endemic; usually on limestone or basalt 
from the Kimberley to the Katherine area. Not yet 
recorded from the DR. 
CLITORIA L. 
Perennial shrubs or vines. Leaves pinnate or 1-foliolate, discolorous. Stipules and stipels persistent. Flowers 
axillary or in short axillary racemes. Bracts striate, bracts and bracteoles persistent. Calyx deeply lobed, upper 
pair shortly connate. Standard resupinate, large, broad, pubescent on back, without appendages. Stamens 9+1. 
Style elongate; stigma terminal. Pod linear, dehiscent, with pithy tissue between the seeds. Seeds longitudinal 
in pod; hilum small, central on the long side; caruncle pale, minute. 
A genus of about 40 species of pantropical and subtropical distribution. In Australia there are 3 species (2 
introduced), with 1 introduced and 1 native species in the NT and DR. 
1. Leaflets 1-3; flowers white; pods subcylindrical ........ 
Is Leaflets 5-7; flowers blue, rarely almost white; pods flattened 
C. australis Benth. 
A shrub to 1 m, often with twining stems. Aerial 
stems annual, rootstock perennial. Vegetative 
parts pubescent except for the upper surfaces of 
the leaves. Stipules broadly based, lanceolate, striate, 
4-9 mm long. Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate or 
1-foliolate, rachis to basal leaflets 0-40 mm, 20-63 
mm overall; stipels subulate, 3-4 mm long; 
leaflets elliptic, elliptic-oblong or obovate; basal 
leaflets 40-58 mm long, 19-35 mm wide, L/W 2-2.6; 
terminal leaflet 49-87 mm long, 23-52 mm wide, 
L/W 1.4-2.2. Inflorescence of few to many flowers 
on peduncles to 25 mm long; bracts lanceolate, 3.5-5 
mm long. Pedicels c. 3 mm long; bracteoles striate, 
ovate, 7-8 mm long. Calyx 15-19 mm long, covered 
with short hooked and scattered simple hairs; tube c. 
6 mm long; lobes lanceolate. Corolla white; standard 
22-34 mm long. Pod on a stipe c. 3 mm long, pale to 
dark brown, linear-oblong, straight, subcylindrical, 
41-50 mm long, 7-8 mm wide, minutely and 
sparsely hairy. Seeds 3-6, dark red-brown, oblong- 
ellipsoid, slightly flattened, 5-6 mm long, 4-5 mm 
wide. Flowering: Nov - May; fruiting: Mar - May. 
Fig. 18 
Endemic to the Kimberley and Top End of the NT. 
Relatively common in the DR, usually on sandy soils 
in Eucalypt savanna. 
C. australis 
C. ternatea 
*C, ternatea L. 
A perennial evergreen twining vine. Vegetative 
parts, calyx, back of standard, and pod sparsely 
hairy with simple and usually with minute 
hooked hairs. Stipules subulate, 3-4 mm long. 
Leaves with 2-3 pairs of leaflets, rachis to 
basal leaflets 12-30 mm, 38-78 mm overall; 
stipels filiform, c. 1.5 mm long; leaflets 
elliptic, broadly elliptic or ovate, 20-40 mm long, 
11-28 mm wide, L/W 1.5-2.1. Inflorescence of 
1-2 flowers in fascicles to 50 mm long; bracts 
narrowly triangular, c. 3 mm long. Pedicels c. 3 mm 
long; bracteoles foliaceous, reticulate, ovate or 
acute, 5-10 mm long, c. 5 mm wide. Calyx 15-23 mm 
long; tube c. 10 mm long; lobes triangular. Corolla 
dark or pale blue with a pale centre; standard 
36-55 mm long. Pod stramineous, slightly 
falcate, flattened, 59-105 mm long, 9-11 mm 
wide, apex shortly caudate. Seeds 6-10, black, 
dull, oblong, flattened, 5.5-6 mm long, 4-5 mm 
wide, surface irregularly pitted; caruncle 
annular. Flowering: all months; fruiting: June - Aug. 
Fig. 18 Blue Pea 
_ A pantropical species introduced for pasture 
improvement and ornamental use and now 
widespread in tropical Australia. Relatively common 
in the DR in disturbed places. 
