Macrotyloma uniflorum (Lam.) Verde.

Leguminosae

Synonyms

Previously (erroneously) called D. biflorus; D. uniflorus.

Leichhardt biflorus.

Climbing annual herb with slender, slightly hairy stems. Three oblong leaflets, blunt at the apex, the terminal one 1.8 to 2.5 cm long, the lateral ones very unequal sided. Flowers yellow or greenish yellow, one to three on very short pedicels in the axils of the leaves. Pods linear-oblong, slightly curved, sessile, 2.5 to 5.5 cm long, smooth or slightly hairy, six- to eight-seeded, tipped with a persistent style 0.6 cm long (Andrews, 1952).

Widespread in eastern Africa, southern Africa, India, Malaysia, the West Indies and Australia.

Has a rainfall range of 500 to 2 500 mm but is more common in the drier areas.

Adapted to a wide range of soils from granitic sands to latosols and heavy clays. Its pH range is about 6.0 to 7.5. It is fairly tolerant of salinity.

A promiscuous legume, it usually nodulates with native rhizobia. It is preferably inoculated before sowing with the cowpea strain, the present Australian recommendation being CB 756 (Norris, 1967). This strain produces black nodules on Macrotyloma uniflorum and Lablab purpureus (Cloonan, 1963).

Good; it occurs spontaneously in old cultivations and along roadsides in the drier areas of Tanzania.

Does best in a well-prepared seed bed but will establish with little ground disturbance.

Seed can be drilled or broadcast. Can be sown with the early cultivation of maize so that it can mature with it and provide feed with the maize residues after harvest. It can be easily established in natural pastures (Downes, 1966) . Staples (1966) showed that it could be established by drilling in 15-cm rows on burned, disced land. Sow at 1 to 1.5 cm and lightly cover. Sow in spring to early summer­late summer planting is unsatisfactory. Sow 1 to 3 kg./ha.

75 000. Percentage of hard seed is not high.

Not necessary to break dormancy. Inoculation is not necessary, but desirable. Pelleting is not necessary.

It will grow in many soils without fertilizer, especially in old crop land. For best results, sow with 130 to 250 kg. superphosphate per hectare.

Not tested.

It is essentially a dry-season feed reserve in the form of pods hanging from tall vegetation. The pods are indehiscent and retain the seed (Downes, 1966) . It does not appear to be very palatable when green. Do not graze during the summer, but allow it to seed and then utilize it during winter and spring.

Easily killed by fire.

Self-fertile; chromosome number 2n = 20.

Staples (1966) records 6 600 kg. DM/ha/year, of which the seed may contribute 2 200 kg.

Collected in early autumn with care taken to preserve the leaves, it would make good hay. Sown with sorghum or maize for support, it should make useful silage.

Excellent as seed pods.

None reported.

At present, by hand, but with a companion crop grown for seed purposes, it could be easily harvested mechanically.

Heavy yields recorded by Staples (1966)­ about 2 200 kg./ha.

Only one­cv. Leichhardt, which was introduced from Kenya as CPI 26260. Commercial seed no longer available.

Rapid summer growth, heavy seeding habit, and drought tolerance.

Short life and autumn and winter defoliation.

Staples (1966).

Good­its vigorous growth tends to smother them.

Mainly pod rot in wet situations. Pod borers can cause some damage, and rodents harvest the seed.

A summer-growing annual, it requires hot moist weather for maximum growth. Ludlow and Wilson (1970) obtained only 8 percent of the dry matter, 25 percent of the growth rate and 4.5 percent of the leaf area at 20°C as that yielded at 30°C. It is completely intolerant of frost, but usually seeds before the frosts and regenerates in the summer from seed. 

About 28°S latitude; about sea level to 1 000 m altitude. Grows well in the central Tanzanian plateau at about 1 000 m.

Grows vigorously in summer, seeds early and then drops its leaves in autumn to early winter.

Very good drought tolerance; seeds early and hays off. Will not tolerate flooding.

A short-day plant, it flowers in autumn. It can climb tall grasses, crops and weeds.

No analytical data are available.