showy rattlebox
Family
FabaceaeScientific Name
Crotalaria spectabilis
Other Common Names:
showy crotalaria
Leaves
Alternate, approximately 2 to 6 inches long, widest at the apex and tapering to the base. Leaves are without hairs on the upper surface and covered with appressed hairs on the lower surface. Leaves occur on short petioles. Stipules also occur at the base of the petioles but usually persist only for a short time.
Identifying Characteristics
A summer annual weed with relatively showy yellow flowers and distinctive seedpods. Leaves that are widest at the apex and taper to the base. Also the bright yellow flowers and distinctive seedpods help to distinguish this weed from most others.
Flower Seed Head
flowers occur on elongated inflorescences (racemes) and are stalked from a central axis, large, showy, and bright yellow in color. Flower stalks have a distinctive bract at their base that is approximately 7 to 12 mm long and 5 to 9 mm wide.
Seed Fruit
A legume that is 1 to 2 inches in length and takes on the appearance of an inflated cylindrical pod. Fruit turn brown to black when mature and the seed within the fruit often become unattached resulting in a rattlebox; sound when shaken.
Where Found
Showy crotalaria is primarily a weed of agronomic crops and may be found from Virginia to Missouri and southward.
Growth Habit
upright and nonwoody
Thorns or Spines
not present
Approximate Flower Diameter
pencil
Dominant Flower Color
yellow
Flower Symmetry
bilateral symmetry
Leaf Hairs
Varies:
has hairs,
no hairs
Leaf Shape
oval
Leaf Arrangement
alternate
Leaf Margin
entire
Leaf Structure
simple
Leaf Stalk
shorter than leaf
Stem Hairs
no hairs
Stem Cross Section
round or oval
Milky Sap
not present
Root Structure
taproot
Life Cycle
summer annual
Ochrea
not present
Plant Type
Herb