Zornia glochidiata

Zornia glochidiata is a slender annual herb of the Fabaceae widespread across savannas and seasonally dry grasslands of tropical Africa and adjacent semi-arid regions. Plants arise from a slender taproot and reach 10–50 cm, with prostrate to ascending, much-branched stems finely pubescent or glabrescent. Leaves are alternate, palmately compound with 4 leaflets borne at the tip of a short petiole; leaflets are obovate to elliptic, 8–25 mm long and 4–10 mm wide, glabrous above, with translucent gland-dots and a pair of conspicuous, basally-attached, lanceolate, persistent stipules 5–10 mm long. Inflorescences are slender terminal spikes 3–10 cm long with sessile yellow papilionaceous flowers 6–9 mm long, each subtended by paired leaf-like bracts. The fruit is a flat, transversely jointed loment of 3–7 elliptic segments, each conspicuously armed with hooked (glochidiate) bristles facilitating epizoochorous dispersal—the trait giving the species its epithet. Flowering and fruiting occur through the rainy season.