Uraria picta

Family: Fabaceae

What it is like

A tall herb or shrub. It keeps growing from year to year. It can grow up to 1.8 m tall. The stems have short rough hairs. The leaves are compound. They have 5-9 leaflets at one at the end. The lower most leaflets have 3 lobes. The leaflets are narrowly sword shaped and 7-25 cm long. They are rough and hairy underneath. There are many flowers in a long dense spike at the ends of the branches. These can be 55 cm long. The flowers are pink, blue or red. The fruit are 5-9 mm long.

The roots are used in medicine.

Where it is found

It is a tropical plant. In East Africa it grows from sea level to 2,400 m above sea level. It grows on flood plains and marshy lands. It can be in wet grassland savannah and along river banks. In China it grows on grassy slopes between 400-1,500 m above sea level.

Countries/locations it is found in

Africa, Angola, Asia, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China, Côte d'Ivoire, East Africa, Guinea, Guinée, Guinea-Bissau, Himalayas, India, Indochina, Ivory Coast, Japan, Malaysia, Mali, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Ryukyu, Sao Tome and Principe, SE Asia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, West Africa, Zimbabwe

How it is used for food

The ripe fruit are eaten raw.

It is fairly commonly eaten in West Africa.

Edible parts

Fruit

How it is grown

Its other names

Local names

Alagno, Dabra, Hauvi mau, Kamaring kouliho, Kyemi-ma, Pithwan, Zumbu

Synonyms

Doodia pictia (Jacquin) Roxburgh; Hedysarum pictum Jacquin; Uraria leucantha Zippelius ex Spanoghe; Uraria linearis Hasskarl;