Ononis rotundifolia, commonly known as Round-leaved Restharrow, is a perennial

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...

 shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

 belonging to the genus Ononis

Ononis

Ononis is a large genus of perennial herbs and shrubs from the legume family Fabaceae. The members of this genus are often called restharrows as some species are arable weeds whose tough stems would stop the harrow...

of the family Fabaceae

Fabaceae

The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...

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Description

Ononis rotundifolia reaches on average 20–60 cm (7.9–23.6 ) of height, with a maximum of 150 centimetres (59.1 in). The stem and the leaves are slightly hairy and sticky. The leaves are composed of three rregularly toothed and almost rounded leaflets (hence the specific Latin name rotundifolia), the median one with a long petiole. This plant bears clusters of two or three pink flowers streaked with red, about 15–18 mm (0.590551181102362–0.708661417322835 ) wide. The flowering period extends from June through September. Ononis rotundifolia is also used as an ornamental plant

Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

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Gallery

Distribution

This quite rare north-western Mediterranean shrub occurs in Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France and Spain, mainly in the Alps, the Cevennes and the Pyrenees.

Habitat

These plants prefer calcareous soils in dry grasslands, rocky meadows, slopes or hillsides. They can be found at an altitude of 800–1800 m (2,624.7–5,905.5 ).

Subspecies

• Ononis rotundifolia var. aristata DC.
• Ononis rotundifolia var. orbiculata Rouy in Rouy & Foucaud

External links

• Biolib
• Flore Alpes