饿蚂蝗 e ma huang

Desmodium dubium Lindley; D. floribundum (D. Don) Sweet ex G. Don; D. mairei Pampanini; D. sambuense (D. Don) Candolle; Hedysarum floribundum D. Don; H. sambuense D. Don.

Shrubs, erect, 1-2 m tall, yellow to white pubescent, be­coming glabrescent. Leaves 3-foliolate; petiole 1.5-4 cm, densely tomentose; terminal leaflet blade elliptic or obovate, 5-10 × 3-6 cm, base cuneate or nearly rounded, apex obtuse or acute, mucronate. Inflorescences to 18 cm, terminal ones mostly paniculate, axillary ones mostly racemose; peduncle with dense antrorse sericeous and minute hooked hairs, often 2-flowered at each node. Pedicel ca. 5 mm. Calyx ca. 4.5 mm, densely hooked hairy; lobes ca. as long as tube. Corolla purple; standard elliptic, 0.8-1.4 cm, clawed; claw obovate, 8-11 mm; wings narrowly elliptic, 0.8-1.4 cm, clawed; keel 7-10 mm, long clawed, not auriculate at base. Stamens monadelphous. Legume 1.5-2.4 cm, lower suture crenate, upper suture nearly straight or slightly undulate, 4-7-jointed; articles obovate, 3-4 × ca. 3 mm, densely adpressed brown sericeous. Fl. Jul-Sep, fr. Aug-Oct. 2n = 22.

Mountain slopes, grasslands, forest margins; 500-2800 m. Fujian, N Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Tai­wan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, India, Kashmir, Laos, Myan­mar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam].

The flowers and branches are used medicinally for reducing fever by inducing sweat.