Indigofera zollingeriana (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Indigofera zollingeriana Miquel

Family: Leguminosae - Papilionoideae

Synonyms

• Indigofera teysmannii Miquel,
• I. benthamiana Hance.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: marmojo gunung (Java)
• Philippines: balabalatong, tina-tinaan (Tagalog), balabalatungan (Bikol)
• Laos: kh'a:m ho:y, khi:z mo:d, s'a:z kh'a:m
• Thailand: khram-chang, khram-luang (northern)
• Vietnam: muồng cánh rẳnh.

Distribution

Widely distributed in South-East Asia, southern China and Taiwan. Occasionally introduced elsewhere (e.g. in Sri Lanka).

Uses

A shade plant for young tea, cocoa and coffee. Also used as a green manure and cover crop in coconut and tea plantations in Sri Lanka.

Observations

• Erect shrub or small tree, up to 12 m tall. Branches subsericeous with minute brown or white, biramous, appressed hairs.
• Leaves imparipinnate; stipules linear, up to 8 mm long; leaflets 11-23, elliptical to ovate, 2-8 cm × 1-3 cm.
• Inflorescence an axillary, many-flowered raceme, 8-10 cm long.
• Flowers about 0.5 cm long; calyx brown-sericeous, 2 mm long; corolla whitish, pink or dark purple; standard ovate, up to 5 mm × 4 mm, dorsally sericeous.
• Pod subcylindrical, 2.5-4.5 cm × 0.5 cm, glabrous, beaked, about 16-seeded.

I. zollingeriana occurs mainly on coral strands and sandy beaches, up to 850 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.
• Botton, H., 1957, 1958. Les plantes de couverture: guide pratique de reconnaissance et d'utilisation des légumineuses en Côte d'Ivoire [Cover plants: practical guide to the recognition and utilization of legumes in Ivory Coast]. Journal d'Agriculture Tropicale et de Botanique Appliquée 4: 553-615; 5: 45-172.
• de Kort, I. & Thijsse, G., 1984. A revision of Indigofera in Southeast Asia. Blumea 30: 89-151.
• 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.
• Wealth of India (various editors), 1948-1976. A dictionary of Indian raw materials and industrial products: raw materials. 11 volumes. Publications and Information Directorate, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, India. 4441 pp.
• Whyte, R.O., Nilssen-Leissner, G. & Trumble, H.C., 1953. Legumes in agriculture. FAO Agriculture Studies No 21. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy. 367 pp.

Authors

• M.S.M. Sosef & L.J.G. van der Maesen