• Family : FABACEAE
  (Pea Or Bean Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : PALASH FAMILY (पलाश फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : LEGUMINOSAE
• Subfamily : Faboideae
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Canavalia cathartica Thouars.
• Common name : Wild Sword Bean
• Vernacular name : Sem (Hindi); Kadavare (Kannada); Kattuthammatai (Tamil); Karu tamma, Adavi-thamba (Telugu); Mohra, Mohrhorha, Bahara, Kalasimo (Oria)
• Habit : Climber
• Habitat : Open forests
• Comments / notes : Occasional in plains to 300m and in scrub jungles on thickets and hedges. Pods thoughout the year. Seeds are poisonous
• Flower, Fruit : October-September
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Srikakulam district, West Godavari district
  • Odisha : Cuttack district, Keonjhar district, Bargarh district, Puri district, Ganjam district, Angul district, Khurda district
  • Tamil Nadu : Dharmapuri district, Salem district, Tiruchirapalli district
• Native : India, Sri Lanka
• World Distribution : India, Sri Lanka
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1994- Flora of Orissa Vol. 1; R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District; R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District; N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka; Matthew, K.M., Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1.
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Canavalia virosa. Downloaded on 20 May 2024.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)