Calpurnia intrusa

Calpurnia intrusa, commonly the western wild laburnum, in Afrikaans the westelike geelkeur (westerly yellow blossom tree) and previously scientifically C. villosa and Virgilia intrusa respectively, is a single-stemmed shrub or small tree reaching 6 m in height (SA Tree List No. 219.3). Young branches are hairy.

The yellow flowers grow in many-flowered racemes of up to 15 cm, longer than the leaves. The bell-shaped, green calyces are five-lobed and thinly hairy. The flowers are bisexual. They turn cream or brown with age.

The corollas are shaped like peaflowers bearing unequal petals. The large banner petal is round-tipped and folded down its centre. The pair of angled wing petals shield the keel. There are ten stamens.

The species distribution in the Western Cape is in the Swartberg Mountains between Ladismith and Oudtshoorn and in the Kammanassie Mountains in the Little Karoo.

The habitat is woody kloofs and gorges near streams and in forest patches. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Coates Palgrave, 2002; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).