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Teramnus labialis (L.f.) Spreng |
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Leguminosae Glycine labialis L.f.; Glycine abyssinica Hochst. ex A. Rich.; G. anonychis Walp.; according to Hermann (1962), more than 12 other species are named within Glycine. Rabbit vine, horse vine (Barbados). An extremely variable perennial, climbing or trailing to prostrate legume, sometimes with a woody rootstock. Stems 0.3 to 3 m long, slender, covered with adpressed to spreading white to ferruginous hairs, or glabrescent, occasionally rooting at the nodes. Leaflets rounded, elliptic, ovate, obovate or even narrowly oblong or lanceolate, 1 to 8 cm long, 0.5 to 4 cm wide, emarginate to acuminate at the apex, mostly rounded at the base, glabrous to densely covered with white or ferruginous hairs beneath. Petioles 0.9 to 4 cm long. Rachis 1 to 7 mm long. Petiolules 2 mm long. Stipules narrowly lanceolate, 2 to 3 mm long. Inflorescence slender and usually few flowered. Rachis 0.3 to 10 cm long. Peduncles 0.8 to 3 cm long. Pedicels mostly rather slender, 1.3 to 4 mm long. Bracteoles linear, about 1.5 mm long. Calyx tube glabrescent or hairy, ribbed, 1 to 3 mm long, lobes lanceolate, 0.8 to 3 mm long, acute, usually densely hairy. Standard white, pink or purplish, also described as yellowish or orange, obovate, 5 mm long, 3.5 mm wide. Wings pale mauve. Keel white. Pods linear, 2.5 to 6 cm long, 2 to 4 mm wide, glabrescent to densely covered with adpressed or spreading hairs, mostly rather sparse and not covering the surface, but rarely dense. Beak 2 to 3 mm long. Seeds yellow-brown to dark purplish-brown, oblong or almost cylindrical, smooth or covered with a granular encrustation, 2 to 3 x 1.2 to 2 mm. Hilum minute, aril slightly developed, white with a small scale-like extension (Gillett, Polhill and Verdcourt, 1971). At least two subspecies, sspp. labialis and arabicus Verde., and several varieties exist. The species as a whole is distributed in tropical and southern Africa, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, New Guinea, the eastern Indian Ocean, the West Indies and Guyana.In ssp. labialis, var. abyssinicus (A. Rich.) Verde. occurs in three forms from 1 000 to 2 000 m elevation in Uganda, Tanzania, the Congo and Ethiopia, in grasslands, bushlands, cultivations and along the edges of roads, while var. acutus Verde. occurs from the Congo to West Africa in evergreen forests and fringing forests from 1 100 to 1 200 m elevation. Ssp. aribicus Verde. occurs on the Arabian Peninsula and in the Sudan, Mali, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Principe, Mozambique, Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles, the Comoros, the West Indies and Guyana, in grasslands with scattered trees, forests, clearings and bushlands from sea level to 1 000 m (Gillett, Polhill and Verdcourt, 1971). The species occurs in the eastern highlands and prairie zone of Cuba (Menendez, 1982), Jamaica (Adams, 1972) and Barbados (Gooding, Loveless and Proctor, 1965). T. labialis is regarded as the most promising pasture plant in Cuba, where cultivar Semilla Clara is identified. There it maintains a good leaf to stem ratio and a high crude protein content (up to 20 percent) to maturity. It is well accepted by animals and persists well under grazing in either pure swards or mixtures. It can also be cut for green chop for up to two years without damaging the sward. Seed production is also good, up to 0.5 tonnes/ha, and seed germinates readily. Seed does not require scarification. Stands take six to eight months to become established. No specific Rhizobium inoculum is required. It has been sown in Cuba at 6 kg./ha in rows 50 cm apart and no more than 3 to 5 cm deep. Productivity for beef and milk production has yet to be determined, as have fertilizer requirements (Menendez, 1982). In the British Virgin Islands, T. labialis grows profusely in many pastures, where it persists well and produces considerable bulk without smothering the grasses (British Virgin Islands, 1963). In Barbados, it is regarded as a common weed(?) in sour-grass areas (Gooding, Loveless and Proctor, 1965), while it is common in thickets and on stony ground in Jamaica (Adams, 1972) . At Serere, Uganda, African ecotypes shed their leaves during dry periods and were killed off by the prolonged annual drought. They produced seed but did not reseed readily. They were not regarded as showing promise for pasture (Horrell, 1958). Gillett, Polhill and Verdcourt, (1971); Menendez (1982). |