Desmodium repandum

(Vahl) DC.

FabaceaeLeavesSeeds/Nuts

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What to Eat

Edible parts: Leaves, Seeds

The young leaves are eaten as a minor vegetable, and the seeds are cooked and eaten.

Where to Find It

A tropical plant. It occurs between 1080 and 2350 m altitude in Papua New Guinea. It occurs in forests and gardens. In Swaziland it is in the high veld only. In Zimbabwe it grows between 900-1,850 m above sea level.

Africa, Asia, East Africa, Eswatini, Indochina, Indonesia, Laos, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pacific, Papua, Papua New Guinea, PNG, SE Asia, South Africa, Southern Africa, Swaziland, Vietnam, West Africa, West Papua, Zambia, Zimbabwe,

Countries: United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Armenia, Angola, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Bahrain, Burundi, Benin, Brunei, Bhutan, Botswana, Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, Congo (Republic), Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, China, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Micronesia, Gabon, Georgia, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Israel, India, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Comoros, North Korea, South Korea, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Laos, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Lesotho, Libya, Morocco, Madagascar, Marshall Islands, Mali, Myanmar, Mongolia, Mauritania, Mauritius, Maldives, Malawi, Malaysia, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Nepal, Nauru, New Zealand, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Pakistan, Palau, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, Seychelles, Sudan, Singapore, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sao Tome & Principe, Syria, Eswatini, Chad, Togo, Thailand, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Tunisia, Tonga, Turkey, Tuvalu, Taiwan, Tanzania, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Vanuatu, Samoa, Yemen, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

How to Identify

A low creeping legume with hairy stems. It can be up to 1 m tall. The stems can be simple or branched and are hairy. It has 3 leaflets the edges of which are slightly wavy. The leaves are densely hairy underneath. The leaflets are 2-11 cm long by 1.5-9.5 cm wide. They are rounded at the base and wedge shaped at the tip. The leaf stalks can be 1-10 cm long. The flowers are in unbranched groups at the ends of branches and these can be 7-30 cm long. It has red and yellow flowers. They are 0.8-1.2 cm long. The fruit are pods 1.5-4.5 cm long with 4-5 segments.

How to Grow

They are mostly self sown in grassland and old garden sites in the bush.

Other Information

Desmodium repandum is widespread as a self sown plant in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. The leaves and seeds are eaten in several areas as a minor vegetable.

Notes

There are about 350 Desmodium species. They are mostly in the tropics.

Names & Synonyms

Daguma korere, Nyambati, Torwatorwa

Hedysarum repandum Vahl.Desmodium scalpe DC.

References (11)

Bourke, R. M., Altitudinal limits of 230 economic crop species in Papua New Guinea. Terra australis 32.
Fowler, D. G., 2007, Zambian Plants: Their Vernacular Names and Uses. Kew. p 36
Hide, R., et al, 1979, A checklist of some plants in the territory of the Sinasina Nimai (Simbai Province, Papua New Guinea), with notes on their uses. Department Anthropology, University of Aukland
Hide, R. L., (Ed.) 1984, Research Report of the Simbu Land Use Project. Vol.V1 South Simbu: Studies in Demography, Nutrition, and Subsistence. p 436
Milliken, W., Ethnobotany of the Yali of West Papua. Royal Botanical Garden, Edinburgh. p 10 (near Baliem)
Pham-Hoang Ho, 1999, An Illustrated Flora of Vietnam. Nha Xuat Ban Tre. p 922
Powell, J.M., Ethnobotany. In Paijmans, K., 1976, New Guinea Vegetation. Australian National University Press. p 109
Prodr. 2:334. 1825
Sillitoe, P. 1995, An Ethnobotanical Account of the Plant Resources of the Wola Region, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea. J. Ethnobiol. 15(2): 201-235
Swaziland's Flora Database http://www.sntc.org.sz/flora
Verdcourt, B., 1979, Manual of New Guinea Legumes. Botany Bulletin No 11, Division of Botany, Lae, Papua New Guinea. p 404