鸡头薯 ji tou shu

Crotalaria tuberosa Buchanan-Hamilton ex D. Don; Eriosema himalaicum H. Ohashi.

Herbs, perennial, erect, 12-50 cm tall. Root tuber fusiform to globose, succulent. Stems densely villous. Leaves 1-foliolate; stipules linear to linear-lanceolate, 4-8 mm, hairy, persistent; petiolule ± absent; blade lanceolate, 1.5-7 × 0.4-1.5 cm, abax­ial surface shortly villous, adaxial surface and margins sparsely villous, base rounded or nearly cordate, apex obtuse or acute. Raceme axillary, extremely short, 1- or 2-flowered; bracts linear. Calyx campanulate, 3-5 mm, 5-lobed, brown villous. Corol­la pale yellow; standard obovate, base with 2 pendulous oblong auricles; wings obovate-oblong, auriculate on one side; keel shorter than wings, obovate-oblong. Ovary densely long hir­sute; style inflexed, glabrous. Legume rhomboid-elliptic or ob­long, 8-10 × 5-6 mm, black when mature, hirsute. Seeds 2, black, small, reniform; hilum linear, almost up to seed length; funicle at one end of hilum. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Jul-Oct.

Mountains; 300-2000 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan [Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; Australasia].

The roots of Eriosema chinense are edible and are used medici­nally.