Edible: Leaves
A small shrub up to 1 m tall. The leaves have 3 leaflets. These are narrow. They are 10-25 mm long by 2-4 mm wide. There are hairs on the lower side of the leaf. There are 2-4 flowers in the axils of the leaves. The flowers are whitish-yellow with violet stripes near the base. The fruit are oval pods 3 mm long.
It is a subtropical plant. It grows on mountain slopes below 2500 m altitude in China. In Taiwan it grows on waste land up to 3,100 m altitude. In XTBG Yunnan. In Sichuan.
Common Names: Chinese lespedeza, Jie ye tie sao zhou
Synonyms:
Anthyllis cuneata Dumon de Courset;
Hedysarum sericeum Thunberg;
Lespedeza argyrea Siebold & Zucc.;
Lespedeza sericea (Thunberg) Miquel;