翅托叶猪屎豆 chi tuo ye zhu shi dou

Crotalaria bialata Roxburgh (1832), not Schrank (1819); C. bidiei Gamble.

Herbs or shrublets, erect, 5-100 cm tall. Branches zigzag, silky pilose. Stipules decurrent on stem as a broad wing. Leaves simple, nearly sessile; leaf blade elliptic to obovate-elliptic, 3-8 × 1-5 cm, both surfaces with trichomes but abaxially slightly denser, base attenuate to cuneate, apex obtuse and mucronate. Racemes terminal or leaf-opposed, 2- or 3-flowered; bracts ovate-lanceolate, ca. 3 mm. Pedicel 3-5 mm; bracteoles in­serted at base of calyx tube, similar to bracts. Calyx 2-lipped, 6-10 mm; lobes lanceolate, apex acuminate. Corolla yellow; standard obovate-orbicular, 5-8 mm, abaxially bearded at apex; wings oblong, shorter than standard; keel ovate, apically with a long twisted beak. Ovary glabrous. Legume oblong, 3-4 cm, 30-40-seeded, sparsely pubescent or glabrous, apex with a slightly curved beak; neck ca. 3 mm. Seeds obliquely cordate, smooth. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Sep-Dec.

Montane grasslands; 100-2000 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cam­bodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; cultivated and naturalized in Africa and Mada­gascar].

Crotalaria alata has been used for erosion control and soil im­provement.