Relatives

Lespedeza juncea (L.fil.) Pers. - Rush Bush-clover.

Taxonomic position.

Family Fabaceae Lindl. genus Lespedeza Michaux.

Main synonyms.

Hedyzarum junceum L.fil.; Lespedeza hedizaroides (Pall.) Kitag.; L. aitchisonii Ricker, L. cytisoides (Pall.) Nakai; Trifolium cytisoides Pall.; T. hedysaroides Pall.

Morphology and biology.

Perennial herbaceous plant with ligneous rhizome, 60-80 cm tall. Stems erect, with few adpressed branches, densely leafy, covered with small adpressed white hairs. Stipules aciform, 1.5-2 mm long. Leaves petiolate, consist of 3 leaflets. Leaflets lanceolate or linear-oblong, usually with a fine spinule at apex, 1-2.5 cm long, 3-7 mm wide, on both surfaces adpressedly pubescent, more often subglabrous above. Inflorescence racemose, axillary, 2-7-flowered, on short pubescent peduncle up to 5 mm long. Bracteoles 1-2 mm long. Calyx about 4 mm long, pubescent, with 5 narrow-lanceolate, rather short-acutate teeth. Corolla whitish-yellow, white or pale lilac, 7-8 mm long, twice as long as calyx. Cleistogamous flowers subsessile. Pods oval or orbicular-ovate, hairy, usually as long as or slightly shorter than calyx, those of cleistogamous flowers almost twice as long as calyx. Seeds light brown, nitid. Flowers in July - August, fruits in August - September. 2n=20

Distribution.

General distribution: Far East, Mongolia, Northwest China, Korea Peninsula. Former USSR: southern East Siberia (Daurian region), Far East (Zeya-Bureya, Ussuri regions).

Ecology.

On dry stony, debris slopes, in thinned shrub thickets, on sandy and shingle deposits at river banks.

Use and economic value.

Forage for summer pastures in southern areas. Used as green manure, as mulch, against erosion, recovers exhausted soils. Medicine in China. Weed.

References:

Wulf EV., Maleyeva OF. 1969. The world resources of useful plants (food, forage, technical, medicine, etc.). Reference book. Leningrad: Nauka. 566 p. (In Russian).
Kharkevich SS., ed. 1989. Vascular plants of the Soviet Far East. V.4. Leningrad: Nauka. P.201. (In Russian).
Polozhij AV., Malyshev LI., eds. 1994. Flora of Siberia. V.9. Fabaceae (Leguminosae). Novosibirsk: Nauka. 280 p. (In Russian).
Shishkin BK., Bobrov EG., ed. 1948. Flora URSS. V.13. P.380. (In Russian).
Cherepanov SK. 1995. Vascular plants of Russia and adjacent states (the former USSR). St.Petersburg. 990 p. (In Russian).
Roskov YR. et al. 2005. ILDIS World Database of Legumes. [Online] Available at: http://www.ildis.org/ . Desmodieae/Lespedeza juncea (L.f.)Pers.

© T.N.Smekalova

© Photo by O.Korsun