Centrosema virginianum (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Centrosema virginianum (L.) Benth.

Family: Leguminosae - Papilionoideae

Synonyms

• Clitoria virginiana L.

Vernacular names

• Spurred butterfly pea (En).

Distribution

Widely distributed from the southern United States to Uruguay and Peru. Cultivated mainly in the United States, in subtropical Australia, and occasionally elsewhere.

Uses

Grown as a green manure and cover crop for erosion control and as a component of pastures. It also has some value as an ornamental.

Observations

• Perennial, scandent herb with slender stems.
• Leaves alternate, trifoliolate; leaflets ovate-lanceolate, 2-7 cm × 1-3 cm.
• Inflorescence an axillary raceme, up to 6 cm long, 2-4-flowered.
• Flower purplish to white, 2.5-4 cm long; calyx deeply 5-lobed, 8-10 mm long; standard suborbicular, 2-2.5 cm in diameter; stamens 10, monadelphous.
• Pod straight, 4-13 cm × 3-5 mm, 16-20-seeded.
• Seed 3-4 mm long, whitish.

C. virginianum is mainly found in the semi-arid tropics and the subtropics, rarely in the humid tropics. Selections from the lowland tropics require high temperatures, growth being reduced when the night temperature falls below 16 °C. Some selections from tropical highlands or the subtropics survive light frost. It nodulates well with commercial centro (Centrosema pubescens Benth.) Rhizobium. Cultivars have been developed in Australia as alternatives for siratro (Macroptilium atropurpureum (DC.) Urban).

Selected sources

• Clements, R.J., 1977. Agronomic variation in Centrosema virginianum in relation to its use as a sub-tropical pasture plant. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 17: 435-444.
• Clements, R.J. & Thomson, C.J., 1983. Breeding Centrosema virginianum in subtropical Queensland. Division of Tropical Crops and Pastures Technical Papers No 26. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Melbourne, Australia. 25 pp.
• Fantz, P.R., 1993. Revising the classification of cultivated Centrosema and Clitoria in the United States. HortScience 28: 674-676.
• Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, the Hague, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 261, 1450 pp.
• Schultze-Kraft, R. & Clements, R.J. (Editors), 1990. Centrosema: biology, agronomy, and utilization. Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT), Cali, Colombia. 667 pp.
• Skerman, P.J., Cameron, D.G. & Riveros, F., 1988. Tropical forage legumes. 2nd Edition. FAO Plant Production and Protection Series No 2. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy. 692 pp.

Authors

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