Crotalaria cunninghamii seed
LATIN NAME: Crotalaria cunninghamii
COMMON NAME: Green Birdflower
The green birdflower is the velvet one of the warm garden, and the green, pea-like flowers cluster like the small birds on the stem. The open, spreading, perennial shrub carries the rounded, grey-green leaves and the dense clusters of the bright green, pea-like flowers through the summer, one of the fine, curious sights of the warm border, to be followed by the inflated, brownish pods. The plant is a fine, bold presence of the warm garden and the study border. It is a plant of the open, sunny, very well-drained ground.
Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology
The green birdflower is a curious, velvet subject of the plant science, and the green, pea-like flowers keep showing up in the work on the crotalaria group. The way the plant fixes the nitrogen and flowers so boldly has been studied closely, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the nitrogen-fixing shrubs, the warm-climate legumes and the members of the pea family. The rounded leaves and the open, spreading habit have also made it a fine study plant, and the green birdflower is a regular subject of the work on the green-flowered legumes of the warm world.
Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications
The green birdflower is a fine, bold plant of the warm garden and the study border. The dense clusters of the bright green, pea-like flowers open through the summer, drawing the bees and the small birds, and the inflated pods follow through the season. The plant fixes the nitrogen in the poor, sandy ground, making it one of the fine choices for the dry border, the wild patch and the soil-building planting of the warm garden. It has been written up in the horticultural and the botanical papers for the green clusters and the nitrogen ways, and it is a fine, bold plant of the open, sunny, very well-drained garden.
The green birdflower is one of the nitrogen-fixing shrubs of the warm garden, and the dense clusters of the green, pea-like flowers draw the bees. The inflated pods follow through the season.
To grow the green birdflower from seed, sow the small, dark seeds into trays of moist, free-draining soil in the warmth, keep the trays in a bright spot and water gently. The seedlings appear within a couple of weeks and grow on fast. With the sun, the warmth and the very well-drained ground, the green clusters will open through the summer.
Crotalaria cunninghamii, known as the Green Bird Flower, is a shrub to about 3 metres tall with hairy branches and foliage.
The leaves are oval shaped and about 30 mm long.
The large, greenish pea flowers occur in winter and spring on long spikes at the ends of the branches. The flowers are streaked with fine, black lines. The seed pods are up to 40 mm long.
The sap from the leaves of this species were used by aborigines to treat eye infections.