| DESCRIPTION: Herbaceous legume, with climbing and prostrate stems, forming dense mats. Leaves trifoliolate, with leaflets round, 1-7 cm long and 1-4 cm wide. Inflorescences are axillary racemes, with 2-5 (-10) white, yellow or blue flowers. Pods (9-) 13-20 (-30) mm long and 4.5-5.5 mm wide. USE: Used in intensively grazed pastures, and forms a good ground cover in lightly shaded areas. GROWING PERIOD: Perennial. COMMON NAMES: Creeping vigna. FURTHER INF: Native of the upland tropics (1000-2700 m) of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Also suitable of subtropical lowland areas. Occurs in grasslands, grasslands with scattered trees, thickets, forests and sometimes as a weed of cultivation. Often forms a natural mixture with grasses such as kikuyu, producing excellent grazing. It can be found in areas with from 1000 mm to more than 2500 mm annual rainfall and with average annual temperatures between 17-27°C. It occurs on soils with textures ranging from sands to medium clays with pH from 4-7. These soils are often infertile and have at least moderate levels of soluble aluminium. It requires good soil moisture for performance, but can survive up to a few months of dry conditions. It tolerates waterlogged soils, but is intolerant of flooding. DM production about 1-4 t/ha/year. |