Japanese name: クサフジ（草藤） Scientific name:Vicia cracca
[Overview]
A perennial.
It has a woody rhizome.
The stem branches well and is vine-like, growing to about 1.5 m.
Leaves are alternate, even-pinnately compound, 8–15 cm long, and consist of 9–12 pairs of leaflets.
The leaflets are narrowly oblong, 1.5–3 cm long and 0.2–0.6 cm wide.
The leaf tip has a branched tendril.
Racemes 6–15 cm long arise from the leaf axils and densely bear bluish purple pea-like flowers, somewhat turned to one side.
In the flower, the limb of the standard petal (the reflexed part) is about as long as the claw (the tubular part).
The flower stalk is attached at the end of the calyx tube.
The fruit is a legume, oblong, 2–3 cm long and 0.6–0.8 cm wide.
It contains 2–6 spherical seeds.
[Uses]
It is used medicinally.
[Notes]
It resembles Nayo-kusafuji, but in Nayo-kusafuji the limb of the standard petal is 1/2 the length of the claw, and the flower stalk is attached slightly to the side of the calyx tube.
