Vasilis Teodoridis:
Fabaceae | Ohwia
1. Ohwia caudata (Thunberg) H. Ohashi; Sci. Rep. Tohoku Imp. Univ.; Ser. 4; Biol. 40: 243. 1999.
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Hedysarum caudatum Thunberg in Murray; Syst. Veg.; ed. 14; 675. 1784; Catenaria caudata (Thunberg) Schindler; C. laburnifolia (Poiret) Bentham; Desmodium caudatum (Thunberg) Candolle; D. laburnifolium (Poiret) Candolle; H. laburnifolium Poiret.
Shrubs or subshrubs; erect; 1-2 m tall; much branched. Leaves 3-foliolate; petiole 1.5-4 cm; often very narrowly winged; terminal leaflet blade lanceolate or oblong; 5-9 x 1.5-2.5 cm; lateral ones smaller; abaxially apparently glaucous and more densely hairy on raised veins; adaxially lucid and glabrescent; base cuneate; apex acuminate or acute. Racemes terminal or axillary; 5-30 cm; rachis densely pubescent intermixed with minute uncinate and appressed or spreading longer hairs; 2-flowered at each node. Pedicel 3-4 mm. Calyx 3.5-4 mm; upper 2 lobes united for 3/4 length or more. Corolla green-white or yellow-white; standard elliptic; shortly clawed; wings narrowly oblong; clawed; keel oblong; clawed. Ovary densely appressed pilose on both sutures. Legume linear; flat; 5-7 cm; sessile; 4-8-jointed; articles narrowly ellipsoidal; 9-12 x ca. 3 mm; with dense; short; brown; uncinate hairs. Fl. Jul-Sep; fr. Sep-Nov. 2n = 22*.
Mountain slopes; roadsides; grasslands; streamsides; forest margins; 100-1000 m. Anhui; Fujian; Guangdong; Guangxi; Guizhou; Hubei; Hunan; Jiangsu; Jiangxi; Sichuan; Taiwan; Xizang; Yunnan; Zhejiang [Bhutan; India; Indonesia; Japan; Korea; Laos; Malaysia; Myanmar; Sri Lanka; Vietnam].
The roots and leaves are used as a pesticide and medicinally as a diuretic.