Tephrosia incana (Roxb.) Sweet

Annual or perennial bushy herb, 0.3-1.3 m tall. Stem white tomentose. 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. Flowers in a terminal or upper axillary pseudoraceme 8-22 cm long; pedicel 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. Pod strongly curved, up to 4 cm x 6 mm, densely silvery or brown-tomentose, hairs to 2 mm long, 4-10-seeded. Seed rectangular, with short hard excrescences, up to 3.5 mm x 2.5 mm. In Africa it is appreciated for its dense foliage.

T. villosa occurs in open fields, floodplains, often on sandy soils. It is tolerant of a long dry season and of heavy rain.

Possibly native to Africa and India, now distributed in tropical and subtropical Africa, from Pakistan to Indo-China and naturalized in Indonesia (Java, Lesser Sunda Islands (Bali and Nusa Tenggara)). Occasionally also cultivated elsewhere.

Soil improver: Used as green manure and annual cover crop in Africa, tested in Indonesia.

Medicine: Leaf juice is used to treat dropsy and diabetes in India.