Leobordea arida

Leobordea arida, previously scientifically known as Lotononis arida, is a low-growing, mat-forming perennial in the Fabaceae family. It reaches heights probably not more than about 18 cm. Young stems are covered in silky hairs, older ones become bare and pale grey.

The stalked leaves are trifoliolate, the petioles longer than the leaflets. The small, grey leaflets are sessile, narrowly oblanceolate to elliptic, folding in along the midribs and round-tipped to pointed.

The yellow, peaflower-like flowers grow solitary at the tips of side-branchlets. In each flower the banner petal is comparatively large, rounded with slightly protruding tip and central fold, partly hairy. The two wing petals are short, flanking the longer keel. The flower is about 8 mm long. Flowering possibly happens in autumn.

The species distribution is given as Gauteng and the Eastern Cape. The photo was taken inland in KwaZulu-Natal, which casts doubt on the identification or the distribution.

The habitat is dry grassland and shrubland on rocky slopes and crests in shallow soil. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (iNaturalist; https://powo.science.kew.org; https://prod.worldfloraonline.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).