Shuteria involucrata - Leafy-Spike Shuteria

Leafy-Spike Shuteria is a perennial climber, 1-3 m long. Flowers are borne in racemes in leaf-axils, axis 9-15 cm. Lower 2 or 3 nodes of the raceme have reduced, stalkless, circular or kidney-shaped leaflets. This feature clearly distinguishes it from Hairy Shuteria. Flower-cluster-stalk is 1-2.5 cm long. Flowers are about 1 cm, red, purple, or light purple; standard elliptic-obovate, tip slightly blunt, slightly notched; wings oblong, almost equal to keels. Sepal-cup tubular, 4-lobed; lobes lanceshaped, shorter than tube. Ovary stalkless. Bracts and bracteoles are lanceshaped, persistent. Stems are twining, slender, densely velvet-hairy or hairless. Leaves are pinnately 3-foliolate; stipules ovate-lanceolate, persistent; leaf-stalk 2.5-7.5 cm; leaflets broadly ovate, ovate, or nearly round, 1.5-6.5 x 1.1-5.5 cm, membranous to thinly papery, base rounded, tip rounded, slightly concave, with small mucro. Pod is linear, compressed, 3-5 x 0.2-0.6 cm, tip beaked. Seeds are 5 or 6, brown, lustrous. Leafy-Spike Shuteria is found in the Indian Subcontinent to China and Indo-China. Flowering: September-March.