Desmodium ormocarpoides (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Desmodium ormocarpoides DC.

Protologue: Prodr. 2: 327 (1825).

Synonyms

• Hedysarum adhaerens Poir. (1817),
• Hedysarum ormocarpum Desv. ex Poir. (1817).

Vernacular names

• Papua New Guinea: agagil (Yunamami, East New Britain), digambi (Gaulim, East New Britain).

Distribution

Sulawesi, the Moluccas, the Lesser Sunda Islands, New Guinea, Australia (Queensland), the New Hebrides and New Caledonia.

Uses

In Papua New Guinea, the leaves are macerated in water and the solution is drunk to treat malaria and tuberculosis. The solution is also reported to be effective against pains and itches. Roots are chewed to prevent vomiting.

Observations

• A climbing shrub or undershrub, up to 150 cm tall, young stems covered with hooked hairs.
• Leaves 1-foliolate, stipules narrowly triangular, 3.8-4.3 mm long, leaflet elliptical or ovate, 8-20 cm × 3.5-8 cm, chartaceous to coriaceous, both surfaces glabrous, lateral veins 6-8, prominent, not extending to the margin.
• Inflorescence a terminal or axillary raceme, usually 15-70 cm long, lax-flowered.
• Flowers in clusters of 2-4, calyx 4-lobed, minutely hairy, corolla white, androecium diadelphous, style spirally twisted.
• Pod linear, stalked, 3-5-jointed, article length 4 times the width, separated by very narrow necks, covered with minute hooked hairs; seeds linear-oblong, 12 mm × 2 mm.

In New Guinea, D. ormocarpoides is found at altitudes up to 1800 m, in savanna, scrubland, forest edges, plantations and roadsides.

Selected sources

• Hacker, J.B., 1990. A guide to herbaceous and shrub legumes of Queensland. University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Australia. 351 pp.
• Holdsworth, D.K., 1977. Medicinal plants of Papua New Guinea. Technical Paper No 175. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 123 pp.
• 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.
• Ohashi, H., 1973. The Asiatic species of Desmodium and its allied genera (Leguminosae). Ginkgoana No 1. Academia Scientific Books, Tokyo, Japan. 318 pp.
• Perry, L.M., 1980. Medicinal plants of East and Southeast Asia. Attributed properties and uses. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States & London, United Kingdom. 620 pp.
• 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.

Main genus page

• Desmodium (Medicinal plants)

Authors

N. Setyowati-Indarto & M. Brink