Clitoria laurifolia (PROSEA)
 |
Introduction |
Clitoria laurifolia Poiret
- Family: Leguminosae - Papilionoideae
Synonyms
- Clitoria cajanifolia (Presl) Benth.,
- Martiusia laurifolia (Poiret) Britton & Wilson.
Vernacular names
- Laurel-leaved clitoria, butterfly pea (En)
- Indonesia: urek-urekan (Javanese), kacang cepel (Sundanese)
- Malaysia: pepipam, rumput turi hutan.
Distribution
Native to Central and tropical South America. Distributed and naturalized widely in the tropics since the 19th Century, particularly in South-East Asia.
Uses
Widely grown as a green manure and cover crop in rubber and coffee plantations, and in contour strips to control erosion. Sometimes cultivated for fodder. In Indonesia the leaves are used to cure pimples.
Observations
- Perennial shrub with deep, woody roots. Stem semi-decumbent or erect, 20-90 cm tall, appressed-pubescent.
- Leaves trifoliolate, 5-10.5 cm long; petiole up to 5 mm long; leaflets oblong, 3-10 cm × 2 cm, glabrous above, sparsely puberulous below.
- Inflorescence a 1-2-flowered, axillary raceme; peduncle up to 4 cm long.
- Calyx tubular, 2-3 cm long, lobes ovate or ovate-lanceolate; corolla purple to nearly white, 5-6 cm long.
- Pod linear-oblongoid, 2.5-5 cm × 8 mm, stipitate, glabrous, 3-7-seeded; valves convex, ridged.
- Seed globose to ovoid-globose, viscid, about 3 mm long, yellow-brown.
C. laurifolia is common in thickets and open sites, along roadsides and on slopes, especially on sandy and red clay soils. It requires a humid, lowland tropical climate with about 2000 mm annual rainfall, but 500 mm is also reported. The sticky seed is often distributed by cattle. When cultivated, it is mostly broadcast, sometimes sown in rows. It requires little care once established.
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.
- Duke, J.A., 1981. Handbook of legumes of world economic importance. Plenum Press, New York, United States. 345 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.
- 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.
- Mansfeld, R., 1986. Verzeichnis landwirtschaflicher und gärtnerischer Kulturpflanzen (ohne Zierpflanzen) [Register of cultivated agricultural and horticultural plants (without ornamentals)]. Schultze-Motel, J. et al., editors 2nd edition, 4 volumes. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany. 1998 pp.
Authors
- M.S.M. Sosef & L.J.G. van der Maesen
