Argyrolobium argenteum

Argyrolobium argenteum, sometimes called the silver silverpod and earlier scientifically A. collinum, is a multistemmed, spreading shrublet reaching 50 cm in height. The young stems and prominent leaf petioles are whitish from a dense hairy covering.

The leaves are three-foliolate, the three leaflets obovate, folded in along their midribs and ending in mucros. The leaflets are densely hairy, sometimes more along the margins.

The stalkless or nearly stalkless, yellow flowers grow solitary opposite the uppermost leaves on branchlets. The hairy calyces are two-lipped, the lobes slightly sickle-shaped. The flowers are shaped like peaflowers, the keel petals silky near their tips, the banners silky on the back. Old flowers fade to red brown. Flowering happens from before midspring through summer.

The narrowly oblong fruit pods are densely hairy and curved.

The species distribution is in the Northern Cape, the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape. The habitat is varied fynbos and renosterveld in drier areas. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

The palatable plant is much browsed (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://www.worldfloraonline.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).