Soft butterfly pea (Centrosema molle)

Teleng tombak or centro or molle centro or molle butterfly pea or soft butterfly pea (Centrosema molle) are plant species in Fabaceae, legumes that are able to live under 80% shade, survive in the dry season for up to 6 months and waterlogged areas.

C. molle is one type of beans that propagates or climbs or hangs, the taproot system is strong, fast growing, long-lived, resistant to pests and diseases. The stem is slightly hairy, up to 5 m long and becomes wood after old age.

Each stalk has three leaves, long elliptical, slightly coarse and soft haired on both surfaces especially at the bottom, green, primary bone in the middle and secondary towards each side, 1-7 cm long, 0.5-4.5 wide, round on the base and cone at the end.

Soft butterfly pea, like the genus Centrosema, is easily recognizable with butterfly-shaped flowers with round wings, whitish violet with a darker color to a lighter, up to 3 cm in diameter and hairy on the outside.

The pods are 4-17 cm long, 6-7 mm wide, straight to slightly bent with protruding borders on each side, green when young and turn brownish with old age. Each pod contains 12-20 brown-black seeds with dark spots, measuring 4-5 mm x 3-4 mm x 2 mm and weighing around 2.5 g for 100 seeds.

Molle centro fills a variety of fields including forests, riverbanks, beaches, highways and plantations, especially coconuts. They also grow on acidic soils and poor drainage on various types of soil, but do not like temperatures of 18-24C and highlands.

Molle butterfly pea is widely maintained for animal feed, erosion prevention and to reduce the rate of weed growth. This plant produces nutrients into mainly nitrogen soils to increase the growth and production of food crops in the wilderness.

Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Tribe: Phaseoleae
Genus: Centrosema
Species: C. molle

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