The motley weasel

Description:

The motley weasel is a perennial, rarely biennial herbaceous plant of the Legume (Moth) family-Fabaceae (Leguminosae). The root is taproot, branched, well developed. Extending to a depth of 2 m, it has small nodules in which live bacteria that extract nitrogen from the air. The main stem is short, reduced. The flower-bearing stems are ascending, growing from the axils of the basal leaves, reaching a height of 15-60 cm. Leaves are Ternate, petiolate, with broadly ovate leaflets. The lower leaves are finely toothed along the edge, and the upper leaves are whole-edged, elongated-ovate. At night, the leaves are folded. Individual leaves often have an arrow-shaped white pattern. The flowers are small, red or pink, zygomorphic, collected in inflorescences-loose rounded or slightly oblong single, and more often paired heads with a wrapper of two upper leaves. The size of the flowers in length is 1-2 cm. Meadow flowers from spring to frost. The fruit is an ovoid single-seeded bean.

Habitat:

The motley weasel on the territory of Ukraine and the European part of Russia is found everywhere in meadows, pastures, pastures, sloping banks of reservoirs, along roads, often forms a continuous meadow cover.