Desmodium ramosissimum G. Don

ramosissimum: much branched

Erect, slender perennial herb, 0.3-2 m tall. Stems several from a woody base with fine short hairs and longer white hairs or sometimes densely covered with appressed stiff hairs. Leaves 3-foliolate with leaflets narrowly obovate to oblong-elliptic, 0.7-4.8 cm long, hairless above, appressed hairy beneath, reticulate venation visible on both surfaces. Petiole 8-15 mm long. Stipules obliquely lanceolate, 4-15 mm long, hairy, persistent. Inflorescence terminal and axillary, 4.5-20 cm long. Flowers with standard mauve, red or rose-coloured. Fruit 7-25 mm long, of 3-5 articles joined by narrow necks and covered with short hooked hairs.

Widely distributed in tropical Africa, Mascarene Islands and Madagascar.