About soft butterfly-pea
Centrosema molle, the soft butterfly pea or spurred butterfly pea, is a perennial climbing herb in the legume family Fabaceae. Native to regions from southern Mexico through Central and South America, the species is distributed across countries including Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, and much of the Caribbean, and has been introduced to parts of Asia and the Pacific such as India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Samoa. It typically inhabits seasonally dry tropical biomes, thriving in forests, savannas, shrublands, and grasslands. The plant is characterized by its twining habit, three-foliolate velvety leaves, and mauve-purple flowers with a distinctive spur above the claw of the standard petal.
Description adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Centrosema molle
- Genus
- Centrosema
- Family
- FABACEAE
- Habit
- Climber
- Habitat
- Deciduous forests and plains
- Native to
- America
- Distribution
- India, America
- Flowering & fruiting
- September-January
Local Names
- Malayalam
- Kattupayar
Fabaceae
Legume/Bean family
soft butterfly-pea belongs to the Fabaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
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