Aeschynomene indica L.

Indian Joint Vetch; Southern Joint Vetch

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Indian Joint Vetch is a native annual herbaceous plant in the Bean family (Fabaceae). It is native to the southern half of Alabama. Indian Joint Vetch occurs in marshes, on river and stream banks, in wet roadside ditches, and in low fields. It is an annual with a tap root. Stems are from 3-15 feet in height. The stems are green or purple in color, glabrous, and often glaucous. The base of the stem is usually swollen and spongy. Very young stems often have stalked glands. The leaves are alternate, petiolate, and odd-pinnately compound. The leaves are sensitive to touch and will fold up when disturbed. Each leaf has 50-70 oblong or linear-oblong leaflets. The leaflets have a single obvious vein and are glabrous. Flowers are produced in axillary racemes of 3-6 flowers. The rachis and peduncle is glandular pubescent. Flowers are papilionaceous, yellow in color, fading to orange with age. The fruit is a segmented legume that is glandular pubescent. The legume breaks into 1-seeded segments. Indian Joint Vetch occurs throughout the tropical and subtropical areas of the world. It is sometimes planted as a green manure, and extracts from the plant are used in herbal medicine and as a spermicide. Large spongy stems are used as floats or to build rafts. The seed contain rotenoids, and the foliage can be toxic to ruminants.--A. Diamond

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Native FACW+ (NWPL)

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