Teramnus labialis

Teramnus labialis is a slender, twining perennial legume in the family Fabaceae, widespread through the palaeotropics and naturalised in parts of the New World. It is a herbaceous to wiry climber with thin, trailing or twining stems that are often finely hairy. The leaves are trifoliolate, the three leaflets oval to elliptic and softly pubescent, borne on a short petiole. Small pea-type flowers, pale pink to mauve or bluish, are arranged in slender axillary racemes, and are followed by narrow, elongated, slightly curved pods that are hairy and constricted between the small, hard seeds. A distinctive generic feature is the way the short style and reduced stamens are pressed against the keel. It grows in grassland, scrub, open woodland, hedgerows, roadsides and disturbed ground in tropical and subtropical regions, and is used elsewhere as a forage and cover legume. In Ayurvedic medicine it is one of the plants known as Mashaparni.