858
Crotalaria pallida Dryand
Synonym
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Crotalaria brownei
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Family
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Fabaceae
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Local name
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Malayalam-Kilukkachedi
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Flowering and fruiting
period
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September-January
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Distribution
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Pantropical
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Distribution in Kerala
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All Districts
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Habitat
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Degraded forest areas, also in the plains
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Uses
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In traditional medicine, C. pallida
is used to treat urinary problems. A poultice made of the roots is applied to
painful swelling of joints, and an extract of the leaves is taken as a
vermifuge.
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Key botanical characters
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Erect
undershrubs, up to 1.6 cm tall; branches puberulous. Leaves 3-foliolate;
leaflets sub equalobovate or elliptic-ovate, apex obtuse or acute, base
cuneate, membranous, glaucous below; stipules 1-3 mm long, setaceous,
deciduous. Flowers long, in teminal many-flowered racemes, up to 25 cm long;
Calyx long, upper 2-lobes united, other lobes lanceolate, adpressed
tomentose. Petals yellow with prominent reddish veins; standard c. 1.2 cm
long, broadly elliptic; keels curved and beaked. Pods oblong-cylindrical; seeds 18-30, brown.
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