Entada parvifolia

Merr.

Kati-u

FabaceaeLeaves

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President and Fellows of Harvard College

What to Eat

Edible parts: Leaves

The young leaves are cooked and eaten.

Where to Find It

A tropical plant. They are found in the Philippines in areas of shrub at low altitude throughout the country especially in Zambales. In Taiwan it grows between 100-600 m above sea level.

Asia, Japan, Pacific, Philippines, Ryukyu, SE Asia, Taiwan,

Countries: United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Brunei, Bhutan, China, Fiji, Micronesia, Georgia, Indonesia, Israel, India, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Kiribati, North Korea, South Korea, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Laos, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Mongolia, Maldives, Malaysia, Nepal, Nauru, New Zealand, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Pakistan, Palau, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, Singapore, Syria, Thailand, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Tonga, Turkey, Tuvalu, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Vanuatu, Samoa, Yemen

How to Identify

A climbing vine. The branches are slender, round and smooth. The leaves have two rows of leaflets and are slightly covered with soft downy hairs when young. The leaflets are oblong, papery and about 8 pairs with the edges rolled lengthwise. The leaf stalks are short. The pods are narrowly oblong, flattened and 10 to 25 cm long. They are 4 to 5 cm wide. The seeds are shiny, round, flattened and about 2 cm across.

How to Grow

Propagation: Seed - it has a hard seedcoat and may benefit from scarification before sowing to speed up germination. This can usually be done by pouring a small amount of nearly boiling water on the seeds (being careful not to cook them!) and then soaking them for 12 - 24 hours in warm water. By this time they should have imbibed moisture and swollen - if they have not, then carefully make a nick in the seedcoat (being careful not to damage the embryo) and soak for a further 12 hours before sowing.