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Hoary Tephrosia
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Hoary Tephrosia
ative Photo: Thingnam Rajshree
Common name: Hoary Tephrosia
Botanical name: Tephrosia villosa    Family: Fabaceae (Pea family)
Synonyms: Tephrosia incana, Tephrosia hirta

Hoary Tephrosia is an annual or perennial bushy herb, 0.3-1.3 m tall. Stem are white velvety. Leaves imparipinnately compound with 7-19 leaflets, up to 10 cm long; stipules 2-5 mm long; leaflets obovate to elliptical, up to 21 mm x 9 mm, hairy on both sides, each side with 4-8 pairs of distinct veins. Stipules are lanceshaped, and fall off. Flowers are borne in a terminal or upper axillary raceme 8-22 cm long; flower-stalk with densely matted hairs, 2-4 mm long; calyx densely matted-hairy, tube about 2 mm long, lobes long-acuminate, to 9 mm long; standard transversely elliptical to broadly ovate, up to 7 mm x 10 mm, dorsally with dense brown hairs. Style glabrous, up to 3-5 mm long, bent sharply upward at base, twisted, penicillate. Pod is strongly curved, up to 4 cm x 6 mm, densely silvery or brown-tomentose, hairs to 2 mm long, 4-10-seeded. Seed are 12-16, rectangular, black, smooth, with short hard excrescences, up to 4.5 mm x 2.5-2.75 mm.

Identification credit: Sanjeev Kumar Lale, Anurag Sharma Photographed in JNU, Delhi & Tharalu estate, Bangalore.

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