1250

 

Desmodium heterocarpon (L) DC.

Synonym	:	Desmodium buergeri Miq.
Family	:	Leguminosae
Local name	:	English         - Asian Tick Trefoil Malayalam  - Nilathuvara
Flowering and fruiting period	:	October-December
Distribution	:	Indo-Malesia, China and Japan
Distribution in kerala	:	All Districts
Habitat	:	Moist deciduous and semi-evergreen forests, also in plains.
Uses	:	The plant is having antipyretic, antiseptic, expectorant properties.
Key Botanical Characters  : Ascending undershrubs; root stock creeping; branches adpressed hairy. Leaves 3-foliolate; leaflets 1.5-4 x 1-2.2 cm, obovate or broadly elliptic-oblong, apex rounded or retuse, base obtuse, glabrous above, appressed-pubescent below; petiole to 2 cm long; stipules c. 5 mm long; subulate. Racemes terminal, panicled 2.5-4.5 cm long; densely covered with appressed straight hairs. Flowers 5-6 mm long; pedicels 3-5 mm long; bracts c. 3-4 mm long; lanceolate. Calyx-tube 2-2.5 mm long; 2 upper lobes connate, 3-lower narrower, acuminate, longer than tube. Flowers purple; standard petal 5-6 mm long; obovate-orbicular. Pods 1.2-2 x 0.3-0.4 cm, lower margin indented, upper straight, 5-7-jointed; joints about as broad as long.