Desmodium triflorum

• Botanical Name : Desmodium triflorum (L.) DC
• Synonyms : Hedysarum triflorum L.
• Common Name : Zino Pandadiyo, Creeping Tick Trefoil, Three-Flower Beggarweed
• Plant Family : Papilionaceae
• Plant Form : Herb
• Occurrence (Sectors) : 2, 4, 5, 10, 14-18, 23-25, 30
• Occurrence (Special Areas) : Ayurvedic Udyan, Punit Van, Aranya Van

About Desmodium triflorum Plant :

• Habit : A small, perennial prostrate herb, often rooting at the nodes, more or less densely hairy with spreading hairs.
• Leaves :
  • Trifoliate, occasionally unifoliate, stipules broad-based, acuminate, strongly nerved.
  • Leaflets obovate, cuneate or obcordate, glabrous above, slightly hairy beneath, stipels minute, setaceous.
• Inflorescence : Small fascicles.
• Flower :
  • Bright red to purple, facing upwards, bracts similar to stipules, but smaller.
  • Calyx hairy with long white hairs, corolla slightly longer than the calyx.
• Fruit : Pods falcate, the upper suture straight, the lower one deeply indented, joints 3-5, hairy with hooked hairs and somewhat reticulately veined, the pods are often invisible on the living plant as they are covered by the prostrate branches and leaves.
• Flowering and Fruiting Time : Throughout the year.
• Significance :
  • The fresh leaves or a paste made of them is applied to indolent sores and ulcers.
  • A decoction of the caves is galactogogue.