Japanese name: ナンバンクサフジ（南蛮草藤） Scientific name:Tephrosia purpurea
[Overview]
An annual or short-lived perennial 40–80 cm tall, reaching 1.5 m in large specimens.
The stems are erect or ascending.
The leaves are alternate and odd-pinnately compound, with 7–15 leaflets.
The leaflets are 1–2.8 cm long and 0.3–1 cm wide, ovate-lanceolate to ovate, with entire margins.
The leaves have appressed hairs.
There are stipules 3–6 mm long.
Pseudoracemes are produced opposite the leaves.
The flowers are papilionaceous, about 7 mm long, and pink tinged with bluish purple.
It flowers all year round.
The fruit is a linear legume 2.5–4 cm long and 0.3–0.4 cm wide, which splits open when ripe.
The seeds are elliptical, with 5–7 in each pod.
[Uses]
In Southeast Asia, the seeds are used as a coffee substitute.
The leaves and seeds contain fish-poisoning compounds and are used as a fish poison when fishing.
It is also traditionally used in folk medicine.
In China and Ayurveda, the whole plant is used medicinally.
It is also cultivated as a green manure.
