贼小豆 zei xiao dou

Phaseolus minimus Roxburgh, Fl. Ind., ed. 1832, 3: 290. 1832; Azukia minima (Roxburgh) Ohwi; P. gracilicaulis Ohwi; P. heterophyllus Hayata (1920), not Willdenow (1809); P. mini­mus f. heterophyllus Hosokawa; P. minimus f. linearis Hosoka­wa; P. minimus f. rotundifolius (Hayata) Hosokawa; P. rotundi­folius Hayata; Vigna dimorphophylla T. L. Wu; V. gracilicaulis (Ohwi) Ohwi & H. Ohashi; V. lutea A. Gray var. minor Matsu­mura; V. minima f. heterophylla (Hosokawa) Ohwi & H. Ohashi; V. minima f. linearis (Hosokawa) T. C. Huang & H. Ohashi; V. minima var. minor (Matsumura) Tateishi.

Annual herbs, twining. Stems slender, subglabrous. Stip­ules peltate, lanceolate, ca. 4 mm, sparsely hirsute; leaflets variable in size and shape, oblong-ovate, suborbicular, linear, linear-lanceolate, or ovate, 2-7 × 0.5-3 cm, subglabrous or sparsely strigose on both surfaces, base rounded or broadly cu­neate, apex acute to obtuse. Racemes axillary, slender, 3- or 4-flowered. Bracteoles linear or linear-lanceolate. Calyx campan­ulate, ca. 3 mm; teeth 5, unequal. Corolla yellow; standard sub­orbicular, ca. 10 × 8 mm, deflexed; keel with long and acute auricle. Legumes terete, 3.5-6.5 × ca. 0.4 cm, glabrous. Seeds 4-8, dark gray to brownish, oblong, ca. 4 × 3 mm; hilum linear. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct.

Grasslands, thickets. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hai­nan, Hebei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Shandong, Shanxi, Tai­wan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [India, Japan, Philippines].