Alysicarpus glumaceus

(Vahl) DC.

Mordi

FabaceaeSeeds/Nuts

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(c) Marco Schmidt, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA)

iNaturalist · cc-by-nc
(c) Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

What to Eat

Edible parts: Seeds

The seeds are mixed with millet to increase bulk.

Where to Find It

A tropical plant. It grows on sandy plains. It grows from sea level to 1,740 m above sea level. It is usually in grassland. It grows in semi-arid areas.

Africa, Angola, Arabia, Asia, Australia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central Africa, Chad, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, East Africa, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Middle East, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sahel, SE Asia, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Southern Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Togo, Uganda, West Africa, Yemen, 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, Gabon, Georgia, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Israel, India, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Comoros, North Korea, South Korea, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Laos, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Lesotho, Libya, Morocco, Madagascar, Mali, Myanmar, Mongolia, Mauritania, Mauritius, Maldives, Malawi, Malaysia, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Nepal, Oman, Philippines, Pakistan, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Sudan, Singapore, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sao Tome & Principe, Syria, Eswatini, Chad, Togo, Thailand, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Taiwan, Tanzania, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

How to Identify

A herb. It grows each year from seed. It is often woody at the base. It can lie over. The stems are hairy. The leaves have one leaflet. The leaflet is 1-2 cm long by 0.2-1.1 cm wide. The flowers are neat the tip opposite the leaves. The fruit are pods 1-1.5 cm long. There are 4-7 seeds and the pod is constricted between the seeds. The seeds are reddish brown or olive green. They are about 2 mm long by 1.8 mm wide and 1 mm deep. There are some subspecies.

Wikipedia

Source ↗

Alysicarpus glumaceus is a plant in the legume family Fabaceae.

Other Information

It is a famine food.

Notes

There are about 30 Alysicarpus species. Also as Papilionaceae. It is used in medicine. It is used for grazing animals.

Names & Synonyms

Alysicarpus violaceus (Forsk.) Schindl.Hedysarum glumaceum Vahl.Hedysarum violaceum Forsk.

References (5)

Burkill, H.M., 1995. The useful plants of West Tropical Africa. 2nd Edition. Volume 3, Families J–L. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 857 pp.
Famine foods.
Prodr. 2:353. 1825
SAXENA
Swaziland's Flora Database http://www.sntc.org.sz/flora