Lotononis sericophylla

Lotononis sericophylla, commonly known as khonyana-tsooana in Southern Sotho and previously scientifically as L. trisegmentata, is a slender, erect, much-branched shrub. Its willowy branches reach 1,5 m in length.

The leaves are three-foliolate and covered in fine, silky hairs on both surfaces. The leaves have petioles, the leaflets no petiolules, therefore sessile at the petiole tips. The leaflet shape is elliptic to obovate, the margins entire and the tips rounded. The blades fold in along their midribs. Leaflet dimensions are about 10 mm long and 4 mm wide.

The species distribution is in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and the Free State, always close to the Lesotho border. The plant is common in Lesotho. The photo was taken in January in the Mkhomazi Wilderness Area of the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg.

The habitat is grassy ridges, rocky places and near streambanks in summer rainfall conditions, also often where the soil has been disturbed. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2009; Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist; iSpot; http://redlist.sanbi.org).