Desmodium microphyllum (Thunb.) DC.

 
  • Family : FABACEAE
    (Pea Or Bean Family)
  • Family (Hindi name) : PALASH FAMILY (पलाश फैमिली)
  • Family (as per The APG System III) : Leguminosae
  • Subfamily : Faboideae
  • Basionym : Hedysarum microphyllum Thunb.
  • Synonym(s) : Desmodium parvifolium DC.
  • Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Leptodesmia microphylla (Thunb.) H.Ohashi & K.Ohashi
  • Vernacular name :
    • Kattu-avam-poovu (Malayalam)
  • Habit : Herb
  • Habitat : Grassy places
  • Comments / notes : Occasional in grassy places among rocks near streams
  • Key identification features : Prostrate herb, much branched; Leaves trifoliate, entire; Flowers purple-blue; Pods sessile, curved, glabrous.
  • Flower, Fruit : July-February
  • Distribution :
    • Kerala : Idukki district, Pathanamthitta district
    • Odisha : Mayurbhanj district, Cuttack district, Khurda district
    • Tamil Nadu : Coimbatore district, Madurai district, The Nilgiri district
    • Uttarakhand : Uttarakhand
    • Sikkim : Sikkim
    • West Bengal : Darjeeling district
    • Himachal Pradesh : Chamba district, Kangra district, Shimla district
    • Arunachal Pradesh : Arunachal Pradesh
    • Meghalaya : Meghalaya
    • Assam : Assam
    • Nagaland : Nagaland
    • Uttar Pradesh : Uttar Pradesh
    • Punjab : Punjab
    • Jammu and Kashmir : Jammu and Kashmir
    • Mizoram : Mizoram
    • Manipur : Manipur
    • Tripura : Tripura
  • Native : Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bismarck Archipelago, Cambodia, China, Hainan, India, Japan, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Islands, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam
  • Exotic/Native : Native
  • World Distribution : Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bismarck Archipelago, Cambodia, China, Hainan, India, Japan, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Islands, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam
  • Conservation Status : Least Concern (LC)
  • Literature :
    • H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1994- Flora of Orissa Vol. 1
    • H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipahar (Similipal), Orissa
    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1.
    • Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI
    • Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1.
    • H J, Chowdhery, et al. Flora of Himachal Pradesh. Volume 1, Botanical Survey of India, 1984. Pg.: 200
  • Read more :
  • Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2024). India Flora Online. http://indiafloraonline-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Desmodium microphyllum. Downloaded on 17 February 2025.

Herbarium Specimen(s)

India Distribution

World Distribution

Creative Commons License
India Flora Online by Herbarium JCB is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.