Latin name

Aeschynomene indica L.

Family

Fabaceae (Leguminoseae)

Common name(s)

Indian jointvetch

Synonym(s)

Aeschynomene cachemiriana Cambess., A. glaberrima Poir., A. pumila L., A. punctata Steud., A. quadrata Schumach. & Thonn., A. roxburghii Spreng.

Geographical distribution

Asia: China, Korea, and Japan.

South and Southeast Asia: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Rest of the world: Australia, Ecuador, Fiji, Ghana, Guatemala, Madagascar, New Guinea, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, United States, and Zambia.

Morphology

An erect, branched, 0.3—1.2—m—tall, perennial herb or sub-shrub.

Stem: woody, with "wart-like" structures at the base, cylindrical with scattered glandular hairs.

Leaf: alternate, pinnate, 3—8—cm—long; leaflets linear or oblong, about 2.5—10—mm—long; stipules are lance-shaped and 1—cm—long.

Inflorescence: racemes borne in leaf axils with 1—4 flowers: flower yellow and often suffused with purple, up to 10—mm—long.

Fruit: a linear-oblong, either straight or curved pod up to 5—cm—long and 4—mm—wide; seeds black, shiny, and about 3—3.5—mm—long.

Biology and ecology

Favors wet situations, in direct-seeded rice and along margins of ditches.

Reproduces by seed; flowers year-round in the Philippines, from August to October in Japan, and from August to November in India. Seed has a pronounced dormancy; germination favored by saturated soil conditions.

Agricultural importance

Reported as a weed in rice and soybean.

Management

Cultural control: in rice, hand weeding and interrow cultivation in India and Indonesia; in soybean, hand weeding at 20, 35, and 50 days after sowing.

Chemical control: thiobencarb and pendimethalin reported to be effective in direct-sown rice.

Selected references

Holm L, Doll J, Holm E, Pancho J, Herberger J. 1979. World weeds: natural histories and distribution. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. USA. 1,129 p.

Lokras VG, Sinii VK, Bisen CR, Tiwari JP. 1985. Chemical weed control in soybean. Ind. J. Weed Sci. 17(4):45-48.

Mishra S, Jena SN, Nanda SS, Garnayak LM, 1990. Chemical weed control in upland rice. Orissa J. Agric. Res. 2(3-4):218-220.

Moody K. 1989. Weeds reported in rice in South and Southeast Asia. Manila (Philippines): International Rice Research Institute. 442 p.

Sago R, Ohnishi S, Tanaka F, 1983. Ecology and control of jointvetch in rice cultivation. Weed Res. Jpn. 28(2):100-105.

Sharma AR, Das KC, 1993. Weed and nitrogen management in direct-sown rice (Oryza sativa L.) under rainfed flooded condition. Integrated weed management for sustainable agriculture. Proceedings of an

Indian Society of Weed Science International Symposium, Hisar, India. 18-20 November 1993. Vol. III:1-5.

Soerjani M, Kostermans AJGH, Tjitrosoepomo G. 1987. Weeds of rice in Indonesia. Jakarta (Indonesia): Balai Pustaka. 716 p.

Contributors

JLA Catindig, RT Lubigan, and DE Johnson