Woody Rosary Pea is a prostrate subshrub or a woody
climber up to 6 m long. Leaves are compound with 12-34 oblong,
obovate-oblong or ovate leaflets, flat to broadly rounded and
mucronulate at tip. Inflorescence is rather slender, usually straight,
flowers in clusters on cushion-like reduced branchlets. They are
pea-shaped, pale purple to almost white. Pod is oblong to
linear-oblong, compressed, 4-12-seeded, seeds usually strongly
compressed, grayish-brown to reddish-brown, sometimes speckled. Woody
Rosary Pea occurs on roadsides, along streams, in thickets and edges of
lowland rain forest up to 1000 m altitude. It is found in India,
Tropical Africa, Madagascar, S. China and Indo-China.
Medicinal uses: Roots of Woody Rosary Pea are
used to treat digestive disorders. The leaves are employed to sweeten
traditional medicines used in the central regions of Thailand. The
stems have been used to tie together materials in harbor works.
Identification credit: S. Kasim
Photographed in Radhapuram, Tamil Nadu.
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The flower labeled Woody Rosary Pea is ...