Lotononis acocksii

Lotononis acocksii is a single-stemmed, spreading shrublet reaching heights around 30 cm to 50 cm.

The stalked leaves are three-foliolate bearing a single stipule at the base of each petiole. Leaflet shape is lanceolate or oblanceolate, the thinly hairy blades folded along their midribs. The middle leaflet is longer than the lateral pair. The leaflets are stalkless, without petiolules.

The inflorescence is a raceme comprising three to five yellow flowers on short pedicels. The five-lobed, hairy and sometimes brownish calyx has a narrow lower lobe, the other lobes partly fused in pairs.

The banner petal is strongly reflexed, the veins on its outside red-brown, visible on the inside surface as well. The wings have rounded tips, the keel rounded below and longer than the wings. The flower becomes up to 13 mm long. The stamens are exserted in older flowers. Flowering happens in spring.

The species distribution is restricted to parts of the Little Karoo on the Rooiberg, the Swartberge and the Gamkaberg from Ladismith to east of Calitzdorp. The photo was taken on the Minwater farm southwest of Oudtshoorn.

The habitat is renosterveld and fynbos slopes in shale soils. The species is considered to be endangered in its habitat early in the twenty first century, due to habitat loss and degradation (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; iNaturalist; https://www.worldfloraonline.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).