Author: (Lamarck) K. Larsen
Morphological description (pumila Chamaecr compl. FT30)
Decumbent or erect, short lived herb with woody base or undershrub rarely surpassing 50 cm in height; branches pubescent.
Leaves with 10-25 pairs of leaflets, sensitive to the touch; stipules linear acute, 5-10 mm, persistent; petiole 5-7 mm, pubescent, provided with a long stipitate gland below the lower pair of leaflets (pumila Chamaecr fl/gl FT30). Leaflets sessile, unequal-sided, with parallel sides, 7-12 by 2-3 mm; glabrous or with few hairs along the midrib; apex rounded with a long mucro.
Inflorescence supra-axillary, flowers solitary or most often 2-3 together in a very short raceme; bracts and bracteoles similar to the stipules, but shorter; pedicels pubescent, 4-6 mm.
Flowers: Sepals lanceolate, acute, 5-6 mm long. Petals bright yellow, unequal, oblong obovate, 2-3 mm long, claw short. Stamens 5, subequal; filaments 1-1.5 mm; anthers straight, 1.5-2 mm, opening by apical pores enlarging to short slits. Ovary appressed tomentose; style glabrous, recurved; stigma small, peltate (pumila Chamaecr fl/gl FT30).
Pods flat, strap-shaped, dehiscent, thinly pubescent, 2-5 by 0.5 cm.
Seeds 10-15, brown, smooth, flat, subrhomboidal, 3 mm.
Distribution
Tropical Asia to Australia. Scattered in Malesia, but common only in few areas as e. g. in Sumbawa; there are also several collections from Java, Flores and Timor.
Habitat & Ecology
At low altitudes, not found above 300 m; in open habitats along roads and waste places on stony, sandy soil, also on limestone; all in all similar habitats as Chamaecrista mimosoides .
Note
The petiolar gland shows quite a wide range of variation, but even if it is rather shortly stipitate in some specimens, Chamaecrista pumila s readily distinguishable from C. mimosoides .
Note
The petiolar gland shows quite a wide range of variation, but even if it is rather shortly stipitate in some specimens, Chamaecrista pumila is readily distinguishable from C. mimosoides.