| |
Aeschynomene aspera
|
| |
|
| |
Family:
FABACEAE/LEGUMINOSAE (Subfam.: Papilionoideae)
|
| |
Citation: Aeschynomene aspera L., Sp. Pl. 173. 1753; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 2: 152. 1834; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 331(234). 1918; Antony, Syst. Stud. Fl. Kottayam Dist. 118. 1989; Joseph, Aquatic Angiosp. Malabar 167. 1991; Sunil & Sivadasan, Fl. Alappuzha Dist. 197. 2009.
|
| |
Malayalam Name(s):
Neerkadasam, Ponguchedi
|
| |
Tamil name(s):
|
| |
English name(s):
Pith plant
|
| |
Description:
Marshy herbs or shrubs 1-2.5 m tall; stem spongy, pith-like, often 1.5 cm or more in diam. Leaves 7-15 cm long; leaflets sessile, 25-50 pairs, 0.6-1 x 0.1-0.2 cm, linear-oblong, base obtuse, oblique, margins ciliolate, apex obtuse, apiculate, stipules 0.7-1.5 cm long, lanceolate, peltate. Racemes axillary, 2-4-flowered, to 5 cm long. Flowers 15-20 mm long; bracts 3-5 x 1.5-3 mm, cordate, hispid; bracteoles 4-5 mm long, ovate, acute, ciliolate. Calyx 5-7 mm long, hispid. Corolla yellow; standard petal c.1.8 x 1.5 cm; wings c. 8 x 4 mm; keels 1.8 x 0.8 cm, hirsute without. Staminal sheath to 7 mm long; anthers c. 2 mm long, ovoid. Ovary to 1 cm long, tomentose; ovules many; style to 6 mm long. Pods 5-7 x 0.7-0.8 cm, compressed, 4-8-articulate, echinate over seeds, indented along both margins, dark brown. Seeds 5-6 x 3-4 mm, reniform, black.
|
| |
Habit:
Shrub
|
| |
Flowering & Fruiting:
August-December
|
| |
District(s):
Thrissur, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Kollam, Kozhikkode
|
| |
Medicinal:
|
| |
Habitat:
Marshes, paddy fields and banks of ponds
|
| |
Distribution:
Indo-Malesia
|
| |
Aquatic:
Yes
|
| |
Epiphyte(s):
No
|
| |
Saprophyte:
No
|
| |
Stem parasite:
No
|
| |
Root parasite:
No
|
| |
Flower colour(s):
Yellow
|
| |
Weed:
No
|
| |
Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
|
| |
Exotic:
No
|
| |
Garden:
No
|
| |
Edible:
No
|
| |
Vegetable:
No
|
| |
Endemic to:
|
| |
IUCN status:
|
| |
Altitude:
|
| |
Localities:
Elanginelvallikavu
|