Desmodium styracifolium (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

1, flowering stem; 2, young inflorescence; 3, flowerbud; 4, young pod; 5, mature pod (Achmad Satiri Nurhaman)

Desmodium styracifolium (Osbeck) Merr.

Protologue: Amer. Journ. Bot. 3: 580 (1916).

Synonyms

• Hedysarum styracifolium Osbeck (1757),
• Desmodium capitatum Burm.f. (1825),
• Desmodium retroflexum (L.) DC. (1825).

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: katepan, melikan (Javanese), susuukan (Sundanese)
• Malaysia: korat nasi
• Cambodia: voë vè:t (general), smau srâlâb pôpôôk, srâka: niëk (Battambang)
• Laos: kéng no:yz ngwà liaz, pâdông fai
• Thailand: ruk ku ning taa no, phee suea nam (Lampang)
• Vietnam: dồng tiền (lông), kim tiền thảo, vảy rồng.

Distribution

From India and Sri Lanka eastward to China, and southward to Malesia and Micronesia. Commonly found throughout the Malesian region, but no records from New Guinea.

Uses

In Malaysia, D. styracifolium is used against colic, together with the central part of maize cobs. In Vietnam, the whole plant is considered diuretic, and applied against gall bladder and kidney stones and oedema. In southern China, it is also used to treat gall bladder and kidney stones. D. styracifolium is reported to be a good green manure, which covers the soil fast and produces numerous roots, nodules and seeds.

Observations

• A much branched, erect shrub or prostrate to ascending subshrub, 60-200 cm tall, young stems hairy.
• Leaves 1- or 3-foliolate, stipules narrowly triangular, 8-11 mm long, terminal leaflet broadly elliptical or broadly obovate to orbicular, (1-)2-4.5(-5.5) cm × (1-)2-4.5(-5) cm, larger than the lateral ones, thick chartaceous to subcoriaceous, upper surface glabrous, lower surface densely hairy, lateral veins 8-10, not extending to the margin.
• Inflorescence terminal and axillary, short racemose, 1-3(-5) cm long, very densely flowered.
• Flowers in pairs, calyx 4-lobed, densely hairy, corolla purple or violet and fragrant, androecium diadelphous.
• Pod narrowly oblong, compressed, (12-)15-20 mm × 2.5-3 mm, plicate-retroflexed when young, later straight, (4-)5-6-jointed, article quadrate or transversely broadly oblong, densely covered with hairs.
• Seed reniform, depressed obovate or transversely elliptical, 1.3-1.8 mm × 2-2.2 mm.

D. styracifolium is found in rather open habitats, in full sunlight as well as in shade. It grows on periodically wet and dry terrain, as well as in grasslands and abandoned rice fields from sea-level up to 600 m altitude.

Selected sources

• Allen, O.N. & Allen, E.K., 1981. The Leguminosae. A source book of characteristics, uses and nodulation. MacMillan Publishers, London, United Kingdom. 812 pp.
• Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1963) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
• Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A-H) pp. 1-1240. Vol. 2 (I- Z) pp. 1241-2444.
• Dy Phon, P., Ohashi, H. & Vidal, J.E., 1994. Légumineuses- Desmodiées [Leguminosae (Fabaceae) Papilionoideae- Desmodieae]. In: Lescot, M., Vidal, J.E. & Vidal, Y. (Editors): Flore du Cambodge, du Laos et du Viêtnam [Flora of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam]. Vol. 27. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France. 154 pp.
• Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
• Hirayama, H., Wang, Z., Nishi, K., Ogawa, A., Ishimatu, T., Ueda, S., Kubo, T. & Nohara, T., 1993. Effect of Desmodium styracifolium triterpenoid on calcium oxalate renal stones. British Journal of Urology 71(2): 143-147.
• Ho, C.S., Wong, Y.H. & Chiu, K.W., 1989. The hypotensive action of Desmodium styracifolium and Clematis chinensis. American Journal of Chinese Medicine 17(3-4): 189-202.
• Knaap van Meeuwen, M.S., 1962. Preliminary revisions of some genera of Malaysian Papilionaceae V. A census of the genus Desmodium. Reinwardtia 6(3): 239-276.
• Nguyen Van Duong, 1993. Medicinal plants of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Mekong Printing, Santa Ana, California, United States. 528 pp.
• Ohashi, H., 1973. The Asiatic species of Desmodium and its allied genera (Leguminosae). Ginkgoana No 1. Academia Scientific Books, Tokyo, Japan. 318 pp.
• Pedley, L. & Rudd, V.E., 1996. Fabaceae (Leguminosae) subfamily Faboideae (Papilionoideae) tribe Desmodieae. In: Dassanayake, M.D. & Clayton, W. D. (Editors): A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon. Vol. 10. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. pp. 149-198.
• Sprent, J.I. & McKey, D. (Editors), 1994. Advances in legume systematics. Part 5. The nitrogen factor. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. pp. 241.
• Tran Dinh Ly, 1993. 1900 Loai cay co ich o Viet nam [1900 useful plant species in Vietnam]. Hanoi, Vietnam. 544 pp.
• Xu, S.B., Chung, J.Y., Hsien, S.Y. & Sun, Y.S., 1980. Cardio cerebrovascular effect of total flavonoids from Desmodium styracifolium (Osbeck) Merr. Chung Tsao Yao 11: 265-267.

Main genus page

• Desmodium (Medicinal plants)

Authors

N. Setyowati-Indarto & M. Brink