8. Pueraria edulis Pampanini, Nuovo Giorn. Bot. Ital., n.s. 17: 28. 1910.
食用葛 shi yong ge
Pueraria bicalcarata Gagnepain; P. edulis var. likiangensis P. C. Li.
Twining herbs, with tuberous roots. Stems sparsely hirsute with brown hairs. Stipules dorsifixed, sagittate, upper lobes 5-11 mm, basal 2 lobes 3-8 mm, striate and ciliate; petiole 3.5-16 cm; stipels lanceolate, 5-7 mm; terminal leaflet ovate, 9-15 × 6-10 cm, 3-lobed to entire, lateral ones obliquely broadly ovate, smaller, ± 2-lobed, base cuneate or rounded, apex shortly acuminate, pubescent on both surfaces. Racemes up to 30 cm, simple or once branched. Bracts ovate, 4-6 mm, glabrous or ciliate; bracteoles 2-3 mm, glabrous or sparsely hirsute. Flowers 3 at each node of rachis; pedicels slender, up to 7 mm, glabrous. Calyx hairy on both surfaces or glabrous outside; tube 3-5 mm; lobes 4, lanceolate, 4-7 mm, subequal, upper one broader. Corolla purple or pink; standard suborbicular, 14-17 mm, apex emarginate, base auriculate and with callosities, claw ca. 3.5 mm; wings obovate, ca. 16 mm, clawed and auriculate; keel oblique. Ovary shortly hirsute, subsessile. Legumes linear-oblong, 5.5-6.5(-9) × ca. 1 cm, very sparsely hirsute with yellowish hairs, suture thickened, densely hairy. Seeds 9-12, red-brown, ovate, flattened, ca. 4 × 2.5 mm. Fl. Sep, fr. Oct.
Forests; 1000-3200 m. Sichuan, Yunnan [Bhutan, India].