Pseudarthria viscida (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Pseudarthria viscida (L.) Wight & Arnott

Family: Leguminosae - Papilionoideae

Synonyms

• Hedysarum viscidum L.,
• Desmodium timoriense DC.,
• D. viscidum (L.) DC.

Distribution

From Pakistan to Burma (Myanmar) and in Indonesia (East Java, Lesser Sunda Islands (Bali and Nusa Tenggara), Sulawesi, Moluccas).

Uses

A potential green manure. In traditional medicine the roots are used against a variety of ailments.

Observations

• Ascending, much branched herb, up to 120 cm tall, often clothed with hooked hairs. Stem slender, with fine grey hairs.
• Leaves distichous, trifoliolate; leaflets obovate-rhomboid, 4-10 cm × 3-5 cm, apex obtuse or acute, lateral leaflets obliquely elliptical-obovate, grey pubescent.
• Inflorescence an axillary or terminal raceme, sometimes branched, up to 20 cm long.
• Flowers in fascicles of 2 or more, purplish to pink; pedicel 4-7 mm long.
• Pod linear, 1.2-2 cm × 5-7 mm, pubescent, 4-6-seeded, not articulate.
• Seed brownish-black.

P. viscida is found up to 1200 m altitude, in dry regions, in grassy fields, roadsides and thickets.

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.
• Hooker, J.D. (Editor), 1872-1879. Flora of British India. 7 volumes. 2nd Indian reprint 1978. Periodical Expert Book Agency, New Delhi, India.
• Matthew, K.M., 1981-1983. The flora of the Tamilnadu Carnatic. 3 volumes. The Rapinat Herbarium, Tiruchirapalli, India.
• 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.

Authors

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