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Zigzag jointvetch

Aeschynomene rudis

Also called Rough Joint Vetch, Rough Jointvetch

Zigzag jointvetch
Photo: Steve Hurst @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database, Public domain

Zigzag jointvetch is a bristly, semi-aquatic legume that grows in wet ground or shallow water and is treated as a noxious weed in rice fields and other wet areas. It is not a plant to grow for ornament, and its key trait is its preference for constantly wet conditions.

Family
Fabaceae (Pea & bean family)
Grows as
Aquatic
Light
Full sun
Water
Keep the roots constantly wet or submerged in shallow water.
Soil
Wet, muddy or waterlogged soil such as rice-field mud.
Temperature
18–35 °C; frost-sensitive, so protect below 10 °C.
How easy
Easy
Native range
Mexico to Trop. America
Climate
wet tropical

About

Aeschynomene rudis is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common name zigzag jointvetch. It is native to South America but it is known from other continents, including North America, as a noxious weed, especially of wet areas such as rice fields. It is aquatic or semi-aquatic, growing bristly, glandular stems near or in water. It grows up to two metres tall. The leaves are composed of oval-shaped leaflets each about a centimetre long. At the base of each leaf are large, flat, pointed stipules. The flower is purple-tinted white and 1 to 1.5 centimetres wide. The fruit is a lobed, gland-dotted legume pod narrowed between the seeds. It is up to 5 centimetres long and less than one wide. As the pod dries it breaks into segments, each segment containing a seed. The hard, shiny seed is kidney-shaped and 2 or 3 millimetres long.

Other Aeschynomene plants

Shyleaf · Sola pith plant · Ambatch · Shrubby jointvetch · Indian jointvetch · Virginia jointvetch · Jointvetch

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Aeschynomene rudis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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