Uraria crinita (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Uraria crinita (L.) Desv. ex DC.

Family: Leguminosae - Papilionoideae

Synonyms

• Hedysarum crinitum L.,
• Uraria crinita (L.) Desv. ex DC. var. macrostachya (Wallich) Schindler.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: ekor kucing (general), buntut careuh (Sundanese), uler-uleran (Javanese)
• Malaysia: pokok ekur anjing, serengan hutan, keretak babi.
• Singapore: pokok ekor anis, seringau
• Cambodia: chô:l hôk, kântuy châchâ:k (trâcha:k), kântuy kâ-ngaôk
• Laos: (do:k) ha:ng kh'a:ngx, ha:ng süa
• Thailand: hangmachok, hangkrarok
• Vietnam: bôn bôn, (cây) duôi chôn.

Distribution

From India and southern China throughout South-East Asia.

Uses

Used locally as green manure and cover crop. Different plant parts are used to cure dysentery, diarrhoea and in the treatment of enlarged spleen and liver. It is also applied against pustules, tumors and fistulae. The whole plant is effective in driving out intestinal worms and other parasites and is sometimes used as a carminative for children. The leaves are used to kill lice. Sometimes also cultivated as ornamental.

Observations

• Erect subshrub, 0.5-2 m tall. Branches terete, densely pubescent.
• Leaves pinnately compound, upper leaves 3-7-foliolate, lower ones 3-foliolate; petiole 10-13 cm long, pubescent; stipules free, about 1 cm long; stipels 3 mm long; leaflets ovate to lanceolate, 8-16 cm × 1.5-5.5 cm, apex acute, glabrous above, hairy beneath.
• Inflorescence a terminal, cylindrical, densely flowered raceme, (7-)12-30(-50) cm long; lower bracts empty, upper ones with 2 flowers, lanceolate, 10-20 mm × 3-6 mm; pedicel 3-15 mm long; with long bristles.
• Calyx tube short, 2 upper teeth up to 6 mm long, 3 lower teeth up to 7 mm long; corolla purplish pink; standard obovate, 6-10 mm × 6-8 mm, glabrous; wings shorter than keel, clawed; keel 7-9 mm long, clawed; stamens 10, diadelphous.
• Pod 2-4(-7)-jointed, constricted between joints, indehiscent, shiny black, hairy.
• Seed reniform-globose, compressed, 1.5-2 mm in diameter, brown.

U. crinita is common in dry grassland, open forest, waste places, roadsides, sandy areas and occasionally in deciduous forest, but not in waterlogged locations, up to 800 m altitude in Java and 1500 m in Indo-China.

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.
• 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