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12(2): Medicinal and poisonous plants 2

Flemingia macrophylla (Willd.) Merr.

This article should be read together with the article on the genus: Flemingia in the Handbook volume indicated above in this database.

Philipp. Journ. Sci., Bot. 5: 130 (1910).

Flemingia congesta Roxb. ex W.T. Aiton (1812), Flemingia latifolia Benth. (1852), Moghania macrophylla (Willd.) O. Kuntze (1891).

Indonesia: apa-apa (Javanese), hahapaan (Sundanese, pok kepokan (Madurese). Malaysia: serengan jantan, beringan. Philippines: laclay-guinan (Tagalog), gewawini (Ifugao), malabalatong (Pampanga). Laos: thwàx h'è: h'üad, thwàx h'üad (Vientiane), h'ôm sa:m müang (Xieng Khouang). Thailand: mahae nok (northern), khamin naang (central), khamin phra (southeastern). Vietnam: t[os]p m[owx] l[as]to, d[aaj]u ma.

Flemingia macrophylla originated in and is widely distributed in South-East Asia and in India, Sri Lanka, southern China and Taiwan. It has been introduced and naturalized in Papua New Guinea, northern Australia, East, Central and West Africa and is cultivated in tropical America.

In Peninsular Malaysia, the entire plant is given to relieve stomach-ache. In India, the roots are applied externally to ulcers and swellings. In China, a decoction is used to bathe swellings and sores. In Taiwan, it is used as an antipyretic in post-partum fevers and to treat paralysis and painful joints.

A deep-rooting, tussock-forming shrub, 1—4 m tall, young branches ribbed, triangular in cross section; leaves 3-foliolate, petiole up to 10 cm long, leaflets elliptical-lanceolate, 6—16 cm x 4—7 cm, base rounded, apex rounded to acuminate, veins covered with silky hairs, papery, dark green; inflorescence a dense axillary raceme, subspiciform, sessile, 2.5—10 cm long, silky, bracts ovate, 3—6 mm long; calyx 6—13 mm long, pale green, velutinous; corolla standard elliptical, greenish with distinct parallel red veins, wings narrow and much shorter than the keel, light purple at the apex; pod oblong, 8—15 mm x 5 mm, covered with fine glandular hairs, dark brown, 2-seeded; seed globular, 2—3 mm in diameter, shiny black. The natural habitat of Flemingia macrophylla is along watercourses and in brushwood in general under shaded conditions, both on clay and lateritic soils, as well as under drier conditions up to 2000 m altitude.

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L.J.G. van der Maesen

van der Maesen, L.J.G., 2001. Flemingia macrophylla (Willd.) Merr.. In: van Valkenburg, J.L.C.H. and Bunyapraphatsara, N. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 12(2): Medicinal and poisonous plants 2. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea