Desmodium triflorum (L.) DC.

Perennial herb, creeping, branches prostrate, rooting at nodes, pubescent. Leaf trifoliolate, petiole 5-7 mm long, leaflets 5-7 mm long, 4-5 mm broad, obovate, cuneate, truncate or emarginate, glabrous above, pubescent below; stipules 3.5-4.5 mm long, obovate, acuminate. Inflorescence axillary fascicles of 1-5 flowers, bracts ovate, acute, ciliate, pedicel 4.5- 5.0 mm long. Calyx 3.5-4.5 mm long, pubescent, teeth longer than the tube. Corolla 5 mm long, pink or white. Fruit 10-16 mm long, 3.5-4.5 mm broad, upper suture straight, lower indented, articles 3-5, as broad as long, puberulous.

Africa, Himalaya, India, Ceylon, S.E. Asia, China, Pacific Is., Australia, America.

Distribution: Pakistan, Kashmir (R.R.Stewart, Ann.Cat.Vasc.Pl.Pak.Kashm. 403.1972), India, Burma, Nepal, Sikkim, China (Formosa, Canton, Hong Kong, Yunnan, Hainan), Malaysia, Siam, Indonesia, Borneo, Philippines, Papua, Australia (Queensland); Polynesia, Fiji, Samoa, New Caledonia, S.Tropical America and Tropical Africa.

600-2300 m

Fl.Per.: July-August.

triflorum: with flowers in threes

Prostrate, annual or perennial herb, forming large mats. Stems much-branched, bristly hairy. Leaves resembling a Trifolium, 3-foliolate; leaflets 4-14 × 4-12 mm, obovate, rounded to emarginate at the apex, glabrous above, pilose beneath; petiole 4-11 mm long. Flowers 1-3 in leaf axils, borne on 5-10 mm pedicels. Calyx hairy. Standard blue, purple, reddish or pink. Fruit of 2-5 articles; one margin ± straight, the other indented; articles 2-3.5 mm long. Seeds brown.

Widespread in the tropics.

Perennial, Herbs, Stems woody below, or from woody crown or caudex, Taproot present, Nodules present, Stems prostrate, trailing, or mat forming, Stems less than 1 m tall, Stems 1-2 m tall, Stems solid, Stems or young twigs glabrous or sparsely glabrate, Stems or young twigs sparsely to densely hairy, Stems hairs pilose or spreading, Leaves alternate, Leaves petiolate, Stipules conspicuous, Stipules green, triangulate to lanceolate or foliaceous, Stipules deciduous, Stipules free, Leaves compound, Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate, Leaves odd pinnate, Leaf or leaflet margins entire, Leaflets opposite, Stipels present at base of leaflets, Leaflets 3, Leaves glabrous or nearly so, Flowers solitary in axils, or appearing solitary, Flowers in axillary clusters or few-floweredracemes, 2-6 flowers, Inflorescence axillary, Bracts very small, absent or caducous, Bracteoles present, Flowers zygomorphic, Calyx 2-lipped or 2-lobed, C alyx hairy, Petals separate, Corolla papilionaceous, Petals clawed, Petals white, Petals blue, lavander to purple, or violet, Banner petal ovoid or obovate, Wing petals narrow, oblanceolate to oblong, Wing tips obtuse or rounded, Keel tips obtuse or rounded, not beaked, Stamens 9-10, Stamens diadelphous, 9 united, 1 free, Filaments glabrous, Style terete, Fruit a loment, jointed, separating into articles, Fruit unilocular, Fruit tardily or weakly dehiscent, Fruit indehiscent, Fruit elongate, straight, Fruit strongly curved, falcate, bent, or lunate, Fruit exserted from calyx, Fruit compressed between seeds, Fruit hairy, Fruit 3-10 seeded, Seeds ovoid to rounded in outline, Seeds reniform, Seed surface smooth, Seeds olive, brown, or black.