Christia obcordata (PROSEA)
From PlantUse English
Introduction |
Christia obcordata (Poiret) Bakh.f.
- Family: Leguminosae - Papilionoideae
Synonyms
- Hedysarum obcordatum Poiret,
- Lourea reniforme (Loureiro) DC.
Vernacular names
- Indo-China: gop tölang-a
- Thailand: phisua (Bangkok), sansai (northern).
Distribution
From India, throughout South-East Asia and southern China to Japan and Australia.
Uses
A productive leguminous cover crop grown in southern Japan. It has been tested in Malaysia.
Observations
- Perennial, rhizomatous, creeping herb, branches thread-like, up to 1 m long, pubescent.
- Leaves with 1-3 leaflets; petiole filiform, 1-3 cm long; terminal leaflet obcordate or rounded, reniform if single, 3-20 mm × 5-30 mm, with sparse long hairs on both sides; lateral leaflets obovate to rounded, 3-18 mm in diameter.
- Flowers in a terminal or axillary raceme 4-30 cm long; pedicel up to 6 mm long in fruit; calyx campanulate, hairy, 5-7 mm in fruit, with 5 triangular lobes; corolla violet or pink, nearly included in calyx; standard obovate, about 7 mm long.
- Pod included in the calyx, glabrous, brownish, with 2-5 rounded articles, each about 2 mm in diameter.
C. obcordata occurs on dry slopes and roadsides, in grasslands and open vegetation up to 1000 m altitude.
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.
- Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2nd Edition. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 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.
- 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.
- Verdcourt, B., 1979. A manual of New Guinea legumes. Botany Bulletin No 11. Office of Forests, Division of Botany, Lae, Papua New Guinea. 645 pp.
Authors
- M.S.M. Sosef & L.J.G. van der Maesen