Kummerowia striata

Last updated

Kummerowia striata
Kummerowia striata (Lespedeza striata).JPG
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Genus: Kummerowia
Species:
K. striata
Binomial name
Kummerowia striata
(Thunb.) Schindl. (1912)
Synonyms [1]
  • Desmodium striatum(Thunb.) DC. (1825)
  • Hedysarum striatumThunb. (1784)
  • Lespedeza striata(Thunb.) Hook. & Arn. (1838)
  • Meibomia striata(Thunb.) Kuntze (1891)
  • Microlespedeza makinoiTanaka (1925)
  • Microlespedeza striata(Thunb.) Makino (1914)

Kummerowia striata is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names Japanese clover and common lespedeza. [2] [3] It is native to much of Asia and it is present in the eastern United States as an introduced species. [4]

Contents

This annual herb grows prostrate, spreading, or erect stems. It grows up to 40 centimeters tall. The leaves are made up of three oval leaflets. Flowers occur in the leaf axils. There are cleistogamous flowers, which self-fertilize and never open, and chasmogamous flowers, which open and receive pollen from other plants. [5] The fruit is a small legume pod containing one seed. [5]

At the close of the American Civil War, this plant appeared all over the southern United States. [6] It was likely introduced to North America accidentally, possibly as a seed contaminant, but it was later imported and planted intentionally. It was used to vegetate pastures and provide forage for livestock. Along with Korean clover it was used to revegetate abandoned coal mine sites and to prevent erosion, as it thrives in sandy soils that have been disturbed by human activity. It is still used today. Cultivars are available, including "Kobe". [7]

It has benefits to human health and agriculture, as well as providing a food source to numerous species across the food web. Nevertheless, this plant is sometimes invasive. [5]

Description

Kummerowia striata can grow to be 16 inches (410 mm) tall. [8] Leaves grow alternate from one another, and only grow to be 0.75 inches (19 mm) long. [8] [9] The leaf edges have no teeth or lobes. [10] The tops of the leaves are dark green, and the bottom of the leaf is light green. [9] The plant grows 0.2–0.3 inches (5.1–7.6 mm) long flowers in three different colors, pink, purple, and white. [8] Flowers sprout from leaf axils in clusters of 1–3. [9] The petals and sepals are fused at the base to form a cup like structure. [10] K. striata has both male and female parts and can either self-pollinate or be pollinated by insects. [3] Each flower has five petals and a light green calyx with five teeth. [9] The plant has two types of flowers, one has colored petals and the other has no petals. [7] K. striata blooms for approximately two months (August to September), from the summer into the fall. [9] [3] In the following two months (October to November) the seeds ripen. [3] The fruits are 0.2 inches (5.1 mm) long and each contain one seed. [8] The fruit is dry and stays intact when ripe. [10] The plant is an annual, but re-seed prolifically. [9]

Classification

Kummerowia striata (Thunb. ) Schindl. [11] was formerly classified as Lespedeza striata. [2] [12] Its common names include Japanese clover and common lespedeza. [2] [3] Kummerowia striata is in a genus with one other species, Kummerowia stipulacea. [13] They are both herbaceous legumes and can be differentiated by their calyx coverings. [13] The calyx of K. stipulacea covers 1/3 to 1/2 of the legume, whereas K. striata′s calyx covers 1/2 to 4/5 of the legume. [13]

Distribution and habitat

Kummerowia striata is native to China, and Japan. [14] The plant is invasive in North America, and it is distributed along the east coast from New York to Florida. [14] It reaches as far west as New Mexico. [14] It was first noticed in Charleston, Virginia in the 1840s. [10] Kummerowia striata is most likely to be found in fields, woods, on the side of roads, or other areas where the ground may have been disturbed. [2] [10] [3] It is uncommon to find a single Kummerowia striata; it is more likely to find a group of them. [3] Kummerowia striata will grow best in moist sandy soil with direct sunlight, but can still grow in other conditions. [9] [3] Kummerowia striata can grow in the 4.5–7.0 pH range, but thrives at 6.0–6.5. [7]

Uses

Medical

Kummerowia striata is used in traditional Chinese medicine as an anti-inflammatory. [15] The plant promotes blood circulation, removes heat, and detoxes blood. It has been historically used to treat dysentery, sores, abscesses, and to stop diarrhea, among other ailments. [15] [3] The plant can also be used to treat fever, headache, vertigo, and loss of appetite. [3]

Agricultural

Kummerowia striata is a natural nitrogen fixer, meaning it fixes atmospheric nitrogen out of the air and converts it to plant available nitrogen. Nitrogen is released into the soil when the plant dies. Kummerowia striata can also be used for erosion control. [7]

If planting for Nitrogen enrichment, pair the legume with bunch type grasses. [7] Do not pair with any sod like grasses, they out compete K. striata. [7] Although the plant re-seeds itself, when being used as a source for grazing it must be reseeded manually to keep the plant numbers high enough to provide adequate food for grazers. [7] [9] The best time to plant K. striata is mid spring. [3] When planting K. striata the seed should be soaked in warm water for 12 hours before the seed is planted. [3]

Food source

Kummerowia striata is a food source for numerous species across the food chain from pollinators to herbivores. [9] [7] Most of the pollination is done by bees and they are the only ones who leave the plant intact after they visit. Species of caterpillars, beetles, and moths all eat the leafy parts of this plant at some point in their life stages. [9] The seeds of K. striata are consumed by the Prairie Deer Mouse, gamebirds, and songbirds. [9] Deer, and other herbivores also munch on this plant, choosing to eat the leaves and other foliage. [9]

Kummerowia striata has also been used by farmers for grazing. [7] Grazing or cutting K. striata should occur when the plant is in the half bloom stage, and it is best to leave the bottom three inches of the plant intact. [7] The legume is useful for grazing because of its bloom time, it is in bloom from summer to fall, and is an alternative to the grazing grasses that are only available in the cooler months. [7]

Kummerowia striata is also edible to humans, although it only ranks a two out of five on edibility, based on one scale of edibility. [3] The leaves and seeds of the plant are edible when cooked. [3] The seeds can also be turned into meal and used in baking. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clover</span> Genus of legumes

Clovers, also called trefoils, are plants of the genus Trifolium, consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution with the highest diversity in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, but many species also occur in South America and Africa, including at high altitudes on mountains in the tropics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fabaceae</span> Family of legume flowering plants

The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, are a large and agriculturally important family of flowering plants. It includes trees, shrubs, and perennial or annual herbaceous plants, which are easily recognized by their fruit (legume) and their compound, stipulate leaves. The family is widely distributed, and is the third-largest land plant family in number of species, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with about 765 genera and nearly 20,000 known species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forage</span> Plant material eaten by grazing livestock

Forage is a plant material eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term forage has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used more loosely to include similar plants cut for fodder and carried to the animals, especially as hay or silage.

<i>Lespedeza</i> Genus of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae

Lespedeza is a genus of some 45 species of flowering plants in the pea family (Fabaceae), commonly known as bush clovers or Japanese clovers (hagi). The genus is native to warm temperate to subtropical regions of eastern North America, eastern and southern Asia and Australasia.

<i>Trifolium pratense</i> Species of flowering plant in the bean family

Trifolium pratense, red clover, is a herbaceous species of flowering plant in the bean family, Fabaceae. It is native to the Old World, but planted and naturalised in many other regions.

<i>Trifolium arvense</i> Species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae

Trifolium arvense, commonly known as the hare's-foot clover, rabbitfoot clover, stone clover or oldfield clover, is a flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae. This species of clover is native to most of Europe, excluding the Arctic zone, and western Asia, in plain or mid-mountain habitats up to 1,600 metres (5,200 ft) altitude. It grows in dry sandy soils, both acidic and alkaline, soil with dry-mesic conditions and is typically found at the edge of fields, in wastelands, at the side of roads, on sand dunes, and opportunistically in vineyards and orchards when they are not irrigated.

<i>Erythrina crista-galli</i> Species of legume

Erythrina crista-galli, also known as the cockspur coral tree, ceibo or corticeira, is a species of flowering tree in the family Fabaceae, native to Argentina, Uruguay, southern Brazil and Paraguay. It is widely planted as a street or garden tree in other countries, notably in California. Its specific epithet crista-galli means "cock's comb" in Latin.

<i>Melilotus albus</i> Plant species in the bean family

Melilotus albus, known as honey clover, white melilot (UK), Bokhara clover (Australia), white sweetclover (US), and sweet clover, is a nitrogen-fixing legume in the family Fabaceae. Melilotus albus is considered a valuable honey plant and source of nectar and is often grown for forage. Its characteristic sweet odor, intensified by drying, is derived from coumarin.

<i>Trifolium incarnatum</i> Species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae

Trifolium incarnatum, known as crimson clover or Italian clover, is a species of herbaceous flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to most of Europe. It has been introduced to other areas, including the United States and Japan.

<i>Diospyros kaki</i> Oriental fruit

Diospyros kaki, the Oriental persimmon, Chinese persimmon, Japanese persimmon or kaki persimmon, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Diospyros. Although its first botanical description was not published until 1780, D. kaki cultivation in China dates back more than 2000 years.

<i>Medicago lupulina</i> Plant species in the bean family

Medicago lupulina, commonly known as black medick, nonesuch, or hop clover, is a plant of dry grassland belonging to the legume or clover family. Plants of the genus Medicago, or bur clovers, are closely related to the true clovers (Trifolium) and sweet clover (Melilotus). Like the true clovers, black medick has three leaflets and a small, yellow flower closely resembling those of lesser trefoil. Black medick belongs to the same genus as alfalfa.

<i>Medicago polymorpha</i> Species of legume

Medicago polymorpha is a plant species of the genus Medicago. It is native to the Mediterranean basin but is found throughout the world. It forms a symbiotic relationship with the bacterium Sinorhizobium medicae, which is capable of nitrogen fixation. Common names include California burclover, toothed bur clover, toothed medick and burr medic.

<i>Kummerowia</i> Genus of legumes

Kummerowia is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It includes two species native to eastern Asia, ranging from the Russian Far East through China and Japan to Vietnam and Laos. The genus belongs to the subfamily Faboideae. These plants were formerly in genus Lespedeza.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desmodieae</span> Tribe of legumes

The tribe Desmodieae is one of the subdivisions of the plant family Fabaceae. It is composed of two subtribes, Desmodiinae and Lespedezinae. Recent phylogenetics has this tribe nested within tribe Phaseoleae.

<i>Lespedeza leptostachya</i> Species of plant

Lespedeza leptostachya is a rare species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names prairie lespedeza and prairie bush-clover. It occurs in the Upper Midwest region of the United States. The flowers are creamy-white to purplish and arranged into a narrow terminal spikes.

<i>Kummerowia stipulacea</i> Species of legume

Kummerowia stipulacea is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common name Korean clover. It is native to China, Japan, Korea, and Russia, and it is present in the eastern United States as an introduced species.

<i>Lespedeza bicolor</i> Species of legume

Lespedeza bicolor is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names shrubby bushclover, shrub lespedeza, and bicolor lespedeza. It is native to eastern Asia, ranging from southeastern Siberia to eastern China, Mongolia, Korea, and Japan. and it is widely grown as an ornamental plant. In some regions, such as the southeastern United States, it grows in the wild as an introduced and invasive species.

<i>Lespedeza cuneata</i> Species of legume

Lespedeza cuneata is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names Chinese bushclover and sericea lespedeza, or just sericea. It is native to Asia and is present elsewhere as an introduced species and sometimes an invasive plant. Australian populations of Lespedeza juncea have sometimes been considered to belong to this species but are now considered to be distinct.

<i>Canavalia cathartica</i> Species of legume

Canavalia cathartica, commonly known as maunaloa in the Hawaiian language, is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae. The Hawaiian name translates as long mountain. In English it may also be known as poisonous sea bean, ground jack bean, horse bean, silky sea bean or wild bean. It has a Paleotropical distribution, occurring throughout tropical regions in Asia, Africa, Australia, and many Pacific Islands, and extending just into subtropical areas. It is not native to Hawaii, and is an invasive species there.

<i>Lespedeza virginica</i> Species of legume

Lespedeza virginica, known as slender bush clover or slender lespedeza, is a species of flowering plant native to much of the United States, as well as Ontario, Canada, and Nuevo León, Mexico. It is a member of the bean family, Fabaceae.

References

  1. ↑ Kummerowia striata (Thunb.) Schindl. Plants of the World Online . Retrieved 4 September 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Japanese clover, Kummerowia striata Fabales: Fabaceae (Leguminosae)". www.invasive.org. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "Kummerowia striata Common Lespedeza, Japanese clover". PFAF Plant Database. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  4. ↑ "Kummerowia striata". Flora of China.
  5. 1 2 3 Gucker, Corey L. (2010). "Kummerowia stipulacea and K. striata". Fire Effects Information System. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
  6. ↑ PD-icon.svg Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879). "United States". The American Cyclopædia .
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Kummerowia striata" (PDF). USDA Plant Fact Sheet. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-18. Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Japanese clover: Kummerowia striata (Fabales: Fabaceae (Leguminosae))". Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Japanese Bush Clover (Kummerowia striata)". www.illinoiswildflowers.info. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 "Kummerowia striata (Japanese-clover)". Go Botany (gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org). Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  11. ↑ "IPNI Plant Name Query Results". www.ipni.org. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  12. ↑ "Kummerowia striata (Thunb.) Schindl". The Plant List. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  13. 1 2 3 Weakley, Alan S. (2015). Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States. University of North Carolina Herbarium (NCU): University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. pp. 547, 548.
  14. 1 2 3 "Kummerowia stipulacea, K. striata". www.fs.fed.us. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
  15. 1 2 Tao, Jun-Yan; Zhao, Lei; Huang, Zhi-Jun; Zhang, Xiao-Yu; Zhang, Shu-Ling; Zhang, Qiong-Guang; Fei-Xiao; Zhang, Bao-Hui; Feng, Qi-Lin (2008-04-22). "Anti-inflammatory Effects of Ethanol Extract from Kummerowia striata (Thunb.) Schindl on LPS-Stimulated RAW 264.7 Cell". Inflammation. 31 (3): 154–166. doi:10.1007/s10753-008-9061-7. ISSN   0360-3997. PMID   18427964. S2CID   5181633.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.