Rhynchosia rufescens (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Rhynchosia rufescens (Willd.) DC.

Family: Leguminosae - Papilionoideae

Synonyms

• Glycine rufescens Willd.,
• Cyanospermum javanicum Miquel.

Distribution

India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Java.

Uses

A component of natural fallow vegetation, worked into the soil as a green manure. It is not a cover crop.

Observations

• Deep rooting, viscid herb, up to 1.5 m tall. Branches trailing, long, short grey pubescent.
• Leaves trifoliolate; petiole 2.5-5 cm long; stipules minute, caducous; leaflets ovate to oblong, 2.5-7.5 cm × 1-4 cm, pubescent.
• Inflorescence a lax, subsessile raceme, up to 15 cm long, 2-10-flowered; pedicel 3-6 mm long.
• Calyx campanulate, 5-lobed, about 13 mm long, persistent in fruit; corolla yellow, about 13 mm long.
• Pod flattened-globose, 11 mm × 5 mm, finely downy, 1-seeded.

R. rufescens occurs in open country, brushwood and hedges, up to 900 m altitude. Initial growth is slow. It produces no prostrate stems but trailing shoots and is richly nodulating. It is not harmed by diseases and pests and is suitable for monsoon areas.

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.
• 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.
• Hooker, J.D. (Editor), 1872-1879. Flora of British India. 7 volumes. 2nd Indian reprint 1978. Periodical Expert Book Agency, New Delhi, India.

Authors

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