It could be Lotus cytisoides , but for accurate results you must write some details about parts of the plant with photos for leaf (simple or compound) and the arrangement of the leaves on the stem, etc.

 Dear Hany Samir,

Thank you so much for the identification. For your kind observations: as far as I see on the photos the leaves are simple (or the compoused parts are very close to each others and they seem simple?), the most important this Lotus shows a kind of succulent feature as you may see on the photo and densely cov  

continue: and densely covering the setms. Size: relatively small approx 20-40 cm high.

Dear Kalidass,

Thank you so much for your effort in helping  me to identify this species. My question: how many Crotalaria species knwon from desert-semi-desert area of Lybia and which is the closest species?

Dear Umaramani,

Thanks a lot! My species is really similar to the picture you sent me! :)) Thanks for your effort!! 

Dear Attila

This looks like an intersting discovery. It is definitely neither a Lotus nor a Crotalaria species, but a representative of the genus Ononis, related to the Ononis natrix group. However it does not match any taxon known from Libya or its neighbouring countries (Tunisia or Egypt). Unless it is a casual alien, it might be undescribed.

If you manage to send specimens and further data, I would be delighted to study them and share the results with you.

Werner Greuter (Herbarium Mediterraneum, c/o Orto Botanico, Via LIncoln 2A, 90133 Palermo, Italy)

I just wanted to point to Ononis, when I noticed the previous posting. If there is a suspicion that it might be an alien species, probably also the taxa from Southern Italy (Sicily, Calabria) should be checked - I don't have an Italian flora at hand now. The plant looks like a perennial species. So, if really introduced, it could as well be an old introduction during the Italian colonial period.

I think that this plant cannot be neither Lotus cytisoides nor Crotalaria because its leaves seem not to be compound, and flowers are solitary and not clustered. May be an Ononis ?

Deal Joel,

It is good observation, the flowers are really soliters and leaves semes to be also un-compound. The flower is succulent. Any idea what kind of Ononis species are recorded from Lybia?

Dear Werner,

As you may know, there is a civil war and also ISIS now, in Lybia. So it is impossible to return. Also. if you check my site, u see: I am working in entomology. I have only this photo and thry to find an other one. This is all that I could provide. :(

Dear Attila,

According to Euro+Med Plantbase (http://ww2.bgbm.org/EuroPlusMed/PTaxonDetail.asp?NameCache=Ononis&PTRefFk=8500000 ), no species of Ononis is recorded from Libya, until now. There are many species known from Tunisia and Algeria and some from Egypt.

DOBIGNARD & CHATELAIN 2012 - Index synonymique de la Flore d'Afrique du Nord, Volume 4 (Dicotyledoneae - Fabaceae - Nymphaeaceae) indicate in Libya 16 taxa i.e.: Ononis natrix subsp. falcata (viv.) Murb., O. diffusa Ten., O. hispida Desf. subsp. arborescens, O. ornithopodioides L., O. pendula Desf. subsp. pendula, O. ramosissima Desf., O. reclinata L., O. serrata Forssk., O. sicula, O. spinosa L., O. vaginalis Vahl, O. viscosa L. subsp. breviflora (DC) Nyman...

Obviously, Euro+Med Plantbase, based on ILDIS, is not up to date. According to Förther & Podlech (1991 [1992]), Revision der Ononis natrix-Gruppe (Leguminosae) von Makaronesien, Nordafrika und dem angrenzenden Westasien, Mitt. Bot. Staatssamm. München 30: 197-296 (http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27803294 ), two species related to Ononis natrix occur in Libya, Ononis angustissima subsp. falcata (= O. natrix subsp. falcata) and Ononis hispanica subsp. ramosissima (= O. natrix subsp. ramosissima). In my opinion, the plant in question could be Ononis natrix subsp. falcata - see distribution map: http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27803334

It could be Lotus cytisoides 

Thanks :) These are the 2 species we discuss about L. cytisoides and O. natrix falcata..

Dear Attila,

forget Lotus cytisoides, which is an entirely different plant. Starlinger is right, the only taxon that matches is Ononis angustissima subsp. falcata, probably better treated as a species of its own (O. falcata). Most characters fit; the reason I hesitated was that O. falcata, like all members of the O. natrix group, is a densely glandular, sticky plant; your plant looks so clean that it is hard to believe it is sticky. But then your excellent photograph, especially if magnified, does show a short patent indumentum that may be glandular (the second hair type usually found in O. falcata, longer, pluricellular hairs, is said to be sometimes absent, as it is here).

I am sorry about the difficulty your homeland is going through, hopefully to be overcome. Do persist in looking at plants, even if you are centered on insects!

Dear Werner,

Lybia is not my homeland, just the present situation makes impossible to return to collect insect and plants. The fauna and flora of this country is hardly known due to the political situation in the past and present. I would be happy, if you could help me to identify other plants which I photographed in Mounti Nebrodi (South of Cefalu between Milazzo and Palermo). I will put up them here as well. Thanks for the identification. 

 Sin duda es una especie de O. natrix complex. Yo creo que podría tratarse de O. vaginalis vahl, indicado en Libia (see Boulos 1: 260; Sirjaev 1932: 482)

Attila Haris

I think this is Ononis natrix subsp. hesperia Maire of Fabaceae family.

Thanks!

Thank You so much! :)

Attila