Aeschynomene indicaL.

Indian JointvetchIndian jointvetch

WFO wfo-0000173414 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Aeschynomene indica, photographed by 葉子
fig. a 葉子, CC0 1.0 / 2020-09-02 / obs. 95834224

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 76 botanical countries

Regions where Aeschynomene indica is native: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Iran, Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, East Himalaya, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicobar Is., Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Florida, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas AngolaBeninBotswanaBurkinaBurundiCameroonCentral African RepublicChadDR CongoEritreaEthiopiaGabonGambiaGhanaGuinea-BissauGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalMadagascarMalawiMaliMauritaniaMozambiqueNamibiaNigerNigeriaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSenegalSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabweAfghanistanChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanIranJapanManchuriaTaiwanAssamBangladeshBorneoCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaLaosMyanmarNepalPakistanSri LankaThailandVietnamWest HimalayaNew South WalesNorthern TerritoryQueenslandSouth AustraliaWestern AustraliaFloridaMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastNorth CarolinaTennesseeTexas ComorosKoreaNansei-shotoAndaman Is.Nicobar Is.
Native distribution of Aeschynomene indica, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Comoros COM
DR Congo ZAI
Eritrea ERI
Ethiopia ETH
Gabon GAB
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Rwanda RWA
Senegal SEN
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Assam ASS
Bangladesh BAN
Borneo BOR
Cambodia CBD
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Laos LAO
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
Nicobar Is. NCB
Pakistan PAK
Sri Lanka SRL
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Iran IRN
Japan JAP
Korea KOR
Manchuria CHM
Nansei-shoto NNS
Taiwan TAI
Florida FLA NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Southeast MXT
North Carolina NCA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
New South Wales NSW AUSTRALASIA
Northern Territory NTA
Queensland QLD
South Australia SOA
Western Australia WAU

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 48 in flower of 78 examined

Proportion of examined Aeschynomene indica in flower, by month
Month In flower Examined Share 95% interval
Jan 1 1 too few examined
Feb 2 2 too few examined
Mar 2 3 too few examined
Apr 0 1 too few examined
May 3 3 too few examined
Jun 1 3 too few examined
Jul 7 13 54% 29% to 77%
Aug 18 27 67% 48% to 81%
Sep 10 16 63% 39% to 82%
Oct 2 5 40% 12% to 77%
Nov 1 3 too few examined
Dec 1 1 too few examined

Peak flowering in Aug. Each bar is the share of Aeschynomene indica observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 48 of 78 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 8 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Where it actually grows measured, from 652 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -1.8 °C 14.3 °C 17.2 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 27.9 °C 29.9 °C 35.5 °C
Annual rainfall 712 mm 2,127 mm 3,898 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 19 mm 276 mm 637 mm

It is found where winters bring light frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 652 research-grade observations of Aeschynomene indica that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 21 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Aeschynomene aspera Wall.
  • Aeschynomene burmanni Raeusch.
  • Aeschynomene cachemiriana Cambess.
  • Aeschynomene diffusa J.G.Klein ex Willd.
  • Aeschynomene glaberrima Poir.
  • Aeschynomene hirsuta Vitman
  • Aeschynomene indica var. punctata Pers.
  • Aeschynomene indica var. viscosa Miq.
  • Aeschynomene kashmiriana Baker
  • Aeschynomene macropoda DC.
  • Aeschynomene montana Span.
  • Aeschynomene oligantha Welw. ex Baker
  • Aeschynomene punctata Steud.
  • Aeschynomene quadrata Schumach. & Thonn.
  • Aeschynomene quadrata Schum. & Thonn.
  • Aeschynomene roxburghii Spreng.
  • Aeschynomene subviscosa DC.
  • Aeschynomene viscidula Roxb. ex Willd.
  • Hedysarum neli-tali Roxb.
  • Hedysarum virginicum Lour.
  • Smithia aspera Roxb.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.