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Taxon:  Lessertia frutescens (L.) Goldblatt & J. C. Manning



Summary
Genus:
Lessertia
Family:
Fabaceae (alt. Leguminosae)
Subfamily:
Faboideae
Tribe:
Galegeae
Subtribe:
Astragalinae
Nomen number:
446528
Place of publication:
Strelitzia 9:708. 2000
Verified:
05/26/2004 ARS Systematic Botanists.
Accessions:
5 (4  active, 2  available) in Australian Pastures Genebank.  (Map it)
Other conspecific taxa
Autonyms (not in current use), synonyms and invalid designations
Basionym
Colutea frutescens L.

Homotypic Synonym(s)
Sutherlandia frutescens (L.) R. Br.

No images


Reference(s)
  1. Bond, P. & P. Goldblatt. Plants of the Cape Flora, J. S. African Bot. suppl. vol. 13. 1984
  2. Clos, D. 1896. Caractères extérieurs et modes de répartition des petits tubercules ou tuberculoïdes des légumineuses. Compt. Rend. Hebd. Séances Acad. Sci. 123:407-410.
  3. Goldblatt, P. & J. Manning. Cape plants: a conspectus of the Cape flora of South Africa. Strelitzia vol. 9. 2000
  4. Huxley, A., ed. The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening. 1992
  5. Western Australian Herbarium. FloraBase²: the Western Australian flora (on-line resource).
Common names
English
balloon-pea –
cancerbush –
duckplant –
Distribution
order_codeStatusContinentSubcontinentCountryStateNote
1NativeAfricaSouthern AfricaBotswana  
1NativeAfricaSouthern AfricaLesotho  
1NativeAfricaSouthern AfricaNamibia  
1NativeAfricaSouthern AfricaSouth AfricaCape Province 
1NativeAfricaSouthern AfricaSouth AfricaKwaZulu-Natal 
2Cultivated     
4NaturalizedAfricaEast Tropical AfricaKenya  
4NaturalizedAustralasiaAustraliaAustraliaWestern Australia 
Native
Africa
  • SOUTHERN AFRICA: Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa [Cape Province, KwaZulu-Natal]
Cultivated ()
Naturalized
Africa
  • EAST TROPICAL AFRICA: Kenya
Australasia
  • AUSTRALIA: Australia [Western Australia]
Economic Uses
UsageTypeNoteReference
Environmentalornamental Huxley, A., ed. The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening. 1992
Medicinesfolklore Van Wyk, B.-E. 2008. A broad review of commercially important southern African medicinal plants. J. Ethnopharmacol. 119:342-355.
Cite as: USDA, Agricultural Research Service, National Plant Germplasm System. 2025. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN Taxonomy). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
URL: https://apg.pir.sa.gov.au/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=446528. Accessed 2 September 2025.


GRIN-Global project