Geissaspis cristata Wight & Arnott

 Geissaspis cristata Wight & Arnott, Prodr. Fl. Ind. Orient. 218. 1834.

Geissaspis cristata Wight & Arn.; Photos Nguyen Hoang Nam

Vietnamese name: 

Mái đậu

Chinese name: 

睫苞豆 jie bao dou

English name:

Latin name: 

Geissaspis cristata Wight & Arn. 

Family: 

Fabaceae

Synonym name:

Zornia disperma Graham

Description: 

Slender prostrate herbs on marshy areas, rooting at lower nodes. Leaves even- pinnate; leaflets 4, 0.5-1 x 0.2-0.6 cm, obovate, obtuse to emarginate at tip, sessile; petiole 0.5-1 cm long; stipules c. 6 mm long, ovate, spurred at base, ciliate along margins. Flowers in long-peduncled spikes, concealed in closely imbricating bracts; peduncle to 4.5 cm long; bracts 0.8-1 cm diam., reniform, reticulate, imbricate, persistent, margins with many long stiff brown cilia. Calyx c. 2.5 mm long, deeply 2-lipped; upper lip entire, lower 3-toothed. Corolla 3-5 mm long, purplish; standard to 5 x 3 mm, broadly obovate; wings to 3 x 1.5 mm, obliquely obovate; keel incurved, obtuse. Stamens monadelphous; filaments free in the upper portion. Ovary c. 1 mm long, suborbicular; style incurved; stigma minute. Pods 1-2-jointed; joints c. 4 x 3 mm, orbicular, reticulately veined, beaked. seed c. 2.5 mm long, brown. 

Flower and fruid season: 

May-January.

Distribution: 

This species is distributed in China, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam. In VietNam, found in Bình Châu, Đồng Nai.

Ecological: 

Beaches, sandy wetlands; below 100 m.

Uses: 

Treatment of headaches, sores, eye ulcers, dermatitis, dysmenorrhea and carpal tunnel syndrome.

Reference: 

- theplantlist.org

- efloras.org

- ipni.org