Fabaceae-Faboideae (papilionaceae) Week: Desmodium elegans from Banihal, Jammu & Kashmir and Chakrata

[Gurcharan Singh]

Desmodium elegans DC. in Ann. Sci.Nat. 4:100. Jan. 1825.

Syn: Desmodium nutans Wall. ex Hook.; Desmodium tiliifolium (D.Don) G.Don; Hedysarum tiliifolium D.Don

Densely puescent shrub with trifoliate leaves on long petiole, with broad orbicular to ovate-obovate  up to 8 cm long leaflets; flowers pale lilac to dark purple, 10-15 mm long, in spreading panicle up to 50 cm long, flowers 2-3 at each node; pod up 5-8 cm long, upper suture straight, lower constricted.

Photographed from Banihal in Jammu & Kashmir, along hill slopes in August, and Chakrata in September

--
Dr. Gurcharan Singh
Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089
http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/

[Satish Phadke]

Beautiful plant indeed. The illustrative pictures show how much important the pods are in Fabaceae

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Dr Satish Phadke