Erect or ascending, annual or short- perennial herbs or shrublets, 0.5-2 m tall. Stems erect, many branched, glabrous, viscid. Stipules lanceolate, 10-12 × 1-3 mm, membranous, base auriculate, apex acute. Leaves pinnate, 3-8 cm long, grey green to dark green in colour, often with purplish tinge;leaflets (pinnae) 8-38 pairs, 3-15 mm long, 1-3 mm wide, linear or oblong linear;exhibiting nyctinastic (night) and thigmotactic (touch-responsive) movement causing pinnae to fold on the rachis;rachis and leaflet margins and midribs often ciliate. Inflorescences axillary, racemose, laxly branched, 2-4-flowered;bracts cordate, membranous. Bracteoles linear-ovate, striate. Calyx deeply 2-lobed. Corolla from pinkish to yellow, ca. 7 mm. Legume oblong, 2.5-3 cm × 2.5-3 mm, herbaceous to leathery, slightly curved, abaxial suture undulate and indented;articles 4-7, rounded, slightly muricate. Seeds brown, reniform, 2-3 mm long and 1.5-2 mm wide (Cook et al., 2005;Flora of China Editorial Committee, 2015).
Related invasive species
- Aeschynomene americana
Related Farm Practice
- Movement
- Flora
Aeschynomene americana is native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas and parts of the Caribbean. It has been intentionally introduced in agroforestry systems in tropical and subtropical regions around the world, being used for forage, green manure, and land reclamation in wetlands. Plants are heavy seeding and, once seedlings are established, growth is vigorous and difficult to control. It is also tolerant to waterlogged conditions and can grow on poor soils. Consequently, it has naturalized throughout large parts of the tropics and subtropics and has also become a weed in pastures, agricultural lands, along roadsides, and in any disturbed sites near cultivation. It is listed as invasive in Singapore, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Taiwan, India and Cuba.
Throughout its distribution range, A. americana is listed as a weed of rice, bean, soybeans, and maize plantations (Thro et al., 1990;Bishop, 1992a;Vibrans, 2009;FAO, 2015).