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''Centrosema virginianum'' is known by the common names of Spurred Butterfly Pea, wild blue vine, blue bell, and wild pea. ''C. virginianum'' is a member of the family Fabaceae, it is identified by its trailing and twining vine and showy flowers. ''C. virginianum'' habitats are in sunny areas within pine lands, and coastal uplands.


Description

''Centrosema virginianum'' is a perennial herbaceous vine growing
procumbent This page provides a glossary of plant morphology. Botanists and other biologists who study plant morphology use a number of different terms to classify and identify plant organs and parts that can be observed using no more than a handheld magnify ...
ly or twining to a height approaching two meters. It has alternate
pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and in ...
ly divided leaves, 3 to 10 centimeters long. Leaflets are lanceolate or ovate, 1 to 4 cm long,
Stipules In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). Stipules are considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many speci ...
are often deciduous, and mostly setaceous. There is a wide range of leaflet forms, from linear to ovate to oblong or lanceolate-oblong, acute or acuminate at the apex. Flowering occurs in the spring and summer. Flowers of ''Centrosema virginianum'', are highly specialized, with an inverted (
resupinate Resupination is derived from the Latin word ''resupinus'', meaning "bent back with the face upward" or "on the back". "Resupination" is the noun form of the adjective "resupine" which means "being upside-down, supine or facing upward". The word " ...
)
banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also, ...
to accommodate pollinators (bees). The inflorescence consists of one to four bisexual flowers on an axillary peduncle; the calyx is deeply five-lobed, and the acute lobes are longer than the tube. The corolla is purplish or lavender-blue to nearly white; the fruit contains four to ten dark brown seeds. The diversity of leaflet shapes and corolla size and color can lead to confusion with '' C. pubescens''. ''C. virginianums roots are capable of nitrogen fixation.00uxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992">


Distribution

''C. virginianum'' ranges more or less continuously from Uruguay and northern Argentina to the eastern United States and Bermuda in tropical and subtropical areas. It is widely distributed throughout the West Indies and has become naturalized in tropical West Africa.


See also

*
Clitoria ''Clitoria'' is a genus of mainly tropical and subtropical, insect-pollinated flowering pea vines. Taxonomy Naming of the genus This genus was named after the human clitoris, for the flowers bear a resemblance to the vulva. The first referenc ...
, a vine with which Centrosema virginianum may be confused


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5063036 Phaseoleae Flora of North America Flora of South America