Argyrolobium tuberosum

Argyrolobium tuberosum is a slender, single-stemmed perennial, growing from tuberous roots to heights from 45 cm to 1 m.

The trifoliolate leaves have stalks that are up to 2 cm long with stipules at the base. The three narrow leaflets are up to 6 cm long and 5 mm wide.

The short-stalked peaflower-shaped flowers grow solitary or in sparse inflorescences. The calyces have short tubes. The flowers are yellow to pale yellow inside, red brown outside and sometimes also reddish on the outside of the wing petals. Flowering happens from spring to summer. The fruit pods are about 5 cm long. 

The species distribution is widespread in South Africa, recorded in all provinces barring the Northern Cape and further in southern Africa. The photo was taken in the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg.

The habitat is diverse, including grassland slopes and moist places. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century. The leaves are eaten as spinach, the sweetish roots sucked by children (Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).