Galactia striata (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Galactia striata (Jacq.) Urban

Family: Leguminosae - Papilionoideae

Synonyms

• Galactia tenuiflora (Klein ex Willd.) Wight & Arn.,
• Glycine striata Jacq.,
• Glycine tenuiflora Klein ex Willd.

Vernacular names

• Vietnam: (dây) long (Phu Khanh).

Distribution

Probably originating from tropical America, it is now distributed pantropically; including in South-East Asia.

Uses

It has been tested as a green manure crop in Java with little success. A fodder crop for marginal areas, often in mixtures with grasses. Its specific chemicals are under investigation for curing blood diseases and cancers.

Observations

• Slender, climbing or trailing perennial herb, 1-4 m long, with a woody rhizome.
• Leaves trifoliolate; stipules linear, about 5 mm long; leaflets oblong, 2-6.5 cm × 1-3 cm, subglabrous above, densely appressed-pubescent beneath.
• Inflorescence an axillary raceme, slender, 1-10-flowered; peduncle 5-30 cm long; flowers 1-3 together; pedicel 1.5-2 mm long.
• Calyx 6-9 mm long, puberulous; corolla white to pink, about 1 cm long.
• Pod curved, flat, 3-7.5 cm × 5-9 mm, usually 7-8-seeded.
• Seed up to 5.5 mm × 3.5 mm × 2.5 mm, yellowish-brown to blackish-red.

G. striata is extremely variable. It nodulates and fixes nitrogen. It is found in grassland and bushland up to 1300 m altitude. It flowers throughout the year in Java. In the literature it is mostly referred to as G. tenuiflora.

Selected sources

• Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr., R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. 647, 641, 761 pp.
• Editorial Committee of the Flora of Taiwan (Editor), 1993-1994. Flora of Taiwan. 2nd Edition. Volumes 1 and 3. Epoch Publishing Company, Taipei, Taiwan. 648, 1084 pp.
• Flora of Tropical East Africa (various editors), 1952-. Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations, London, United Kingdom & A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
• Flore du Cambodge, du Laos et du Viêt-nam [Flora of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam] (various editors), 1960-. Volume 1-. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Laboratoire de Phanérogamie, Paris, France.
• Hacker, J.B., 1990. A guide to herbaceous and shrub legumes of Queensland. University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia, Australia. 351 pp.

Authors

• M.S.M. Sosef & L.J.G. van der Maesen