密花豆 mi hua dou

Woody climbers, shrubby when young. Leaves papery or subleathery; stipels subulate, 3-6 mm; petiolules 5-8 mm, pu­berulent or glabrous; leaflets subglabrous or slightly puberulent, with tufts of hairs in axils of veins abaxially, lateral veins 6-8 pairs, slightly curved; terminal leaflet symmetric, broadly elliptic or broadly obovate to suborbicular, 9-19 × 5-14 cm, base broadly cuneate, apex abruptly contracted to shortly ob­tusely caudate; lateral leaflets asymmetric, as broad as or slightly narrower than terminal one, base broadly cuneate or rounded. Panicles axillary or at apex of branchlets, to 50 cm; rachis and pedicels yellowish brown puberulent; bracts and bracteoles linear, persistent. Calyx 3.5-4 mm; teeth 2-3 × shorter than tube, lower 3 with apex rounded or slightly obtuse, less than 1 mm, upper 2 slightly longer, ± connate, densely yellowish brown puberulent outside, silvery gray hairy inside. Corolla whitish; standard orbicular, 4-4.5 × 5-5.5 mm, apex emarginate, base broadly cuneate, claw 2-2.5 mm; wings obliquely cuneate-oblong, 3.5-4 mm, as keel base with an acute auricle on one side, claw 3-3.5 mm; keel obovate, ca. 3 mm. Anthers globose, equal in size or nearly so. Ovary subsessile, strigose in lower part. Legumes subfalcate, 8-11 cm, densely brownish velutinous; stipe 4-9 mm. Seeds oblong, ca. 2 × 1 cm; testa purplish brown, thinly crustaceous, shiny. Fl. Jun, fr. Nov-Dec.

● Open or dense forests or scrub, mountain slopes, valleys; 800-1700 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan.

The stems are used medicinally.