Desmodium triflorum

Desmodium triflorum (Linn.) DC., Prodr. 2: 234, 1825; Graham, Cat. Bombay Pl. 49, !839; Dalz. and Gibs., Bombay Fl. 67, !861; Woodrow in JBNHS 11. 423, 1897; Baker in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 2: 173, 1876; Cook, Fl. Pres. Bombay 1: 355, 1902; Santapau; Fl. Khandala ed.3, 62, 1967; Ugemuge, Fl. Nagpur, 141, 1986; S.M.Almeida, fl. Sawantwadi, 132,1990; Venkatareddi, BOBSI 11: 145, 1969; Nairne, Fl. Pl. West. Ind. 85, 1894; G.L. Shah, BOBSI 4: 235, 1962; Kulkarni, Fl. Sindhudurg Dist. 120, 1988.

Vernacular name:-Ran-methi.

FAMILY: FABACEAE
Morphological characters:

Habit:- A small perennial trailing herb; stems slender, 15-45 cm. long; branches numerous, prostrate, rooting at the nodes, sparsely hirsute with spreading hairs.
Leaves:- 3-foliate, the lower sometimes 1-foliate; petiole 5-6 cm. long; stipules ovate, acuminate, 3-4 cm. long, persistent.
Leaflets:- Membranous, obovate, cuneate, 5-6 by 4-5 cm., the terminal slightly larger than lateral, truncate or emarginated, rarely rounded, glabrous above, more or less hairy beneath; petiolules 1-2 cm. long.
Inflorescence:- In axillary racemes, 1-5 ( usually 3), facicled in the axil of the leaves.
Flower:-Bracteate, bracteolate, complete, bisexuals, zygomorphic, pentamerous, hypogynous or perigynous, pedicelate, 5 mm. long, hairy,
Bract:-Ovate, acute, ciliate,
Bracteoles:- Minut.
Calyx:- 3-4 cm. long, clothed with long white hairs; teeth lanceolate, longer than the campanulate tube, ciliate with long white hairs.
Corolla:-5-mm. long, Pink or occasionally white; standard 2.5 mm. broad, broadly obovate; cuneate, produced into a long slender claw.
Androecium:- Stamens (9)+1, Diadelphous.
Gynoecium:- Monocarpellary, superior, unilocular ovary, with marginal placentation, style single, incurved and stigma simple, terminal.
Pods:- 9-15 by 3-4 cm., the upper edge straight, the lower indented; joints 3-5, as broad as long., reticulately veined, more or less puberulous, the upper edge straight, the lower rounded.
Flowering:- Sep-Nov.