Clitoria ternatea L.

  • Authority

    Britton, Nathaniel L. & Millspaugh, Charles F. 1920. The Bahama Flora.

  • Family

    Fabaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Clitoria ternatea L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Perennial, herbaceous or slightly woody below, slender, twining to a height of 2 m. or more, or, if without support, prostrate, pubescent, at least on the younger parts. Stipules linear-lanceolate, acuminate, 5-8 mm. long; petioles slender, pubescent, 13 cm. long; leaflets 5-9 (usually 5), ovate or oval, shortstalked, 2 3.5 cm. long, mostly obtuse at the apex, obtuse or narrowed at the base, thin, glabrous above, somewhat pubescent beneath; peduncles 1-flowered, 1-2 cm. long; bracts ovate-orbicular, obtuse, 5-7 mm. long; calyx about 1.7 cm. long, its lanceolate lobes acuminate; corolla large, blue and white, the standard 3-4 cm. long; pod nearly sessile, flat, linear, beaked, pubescent, 13 em. long or less, about 1 cm. wide; seeds compressed, subreniform, mottled. 5 6 mm. long.

  • Distribution

    Fields and waste places, spontaneous after cultivation. New Providence and Inagua : a native of tropical Africa ; spontaneous after cultivation throughout the West Indies and tropical America, and in Florida. Blue pea.

    New Providence Bahamas South America| Inagua Bahamas South America| Africa| Florida United States of America North America|