Christia obcordata (PROSEA)

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Plant Resources of South-East Asia
Introduction
List of species


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