Food Plants International - Plant Fact Sheets Desmodium velutinum

Edible: Leaves

A woody shrub. It grows from 0.5-2 m high. The stems are densely covered with pale hairs when young. The leaves normally have one leaflet but occasionally 3. The leaflet is 2.5-19 cm long by 1.1-13 cm wide. It is bluntly rounded at the tip. There a hairs which are more rough on top and velvety underneath. The flowers are 5 mm long in clusters either at the ends of branches or in the axils of leaves. These flower clusters are 2-30 cm long. They are covered with hooked hairs. The flowers are mauve, red or blue. The fruit are pods 1.2-2.4 cm long and with 2-7 segments.

A tropical plant. It tends to grow in grassland and drier areas. In Papua New Guinea is occurs from 2 m to 600 m altitude. In Zimbabwe it grows between 100-1,320 m above sea level.

Common Names: 'Danka ' dafi, Damgere, Kulenhimaba, Macabreu, Nhacanama, Nangata-tchenche, Rap-rap, Tamron, Tam, Thoclep, Trangqua long

Synonyms: Anarthrosyne cordata Klotzsch;
Hedysarum velutinum Willd.;
Desmodium lasiocarpum (Beauv.) DC;
Desmodium latifolium (Ker-Gawl.) DC.;
and others