''Aeschynomene americana'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

(legume) known by many common names, including shyleaf,''Aeschynomene americana''.
USDA Plants Profile. forage aeschynomene, American joint vetch (United States and Australia), thornless mimosa (Sri Lanka), bastard sensitive plant (Jamaica), ''pega pega'', ''pega ropa'', ''antejuela'', ''ronte'', ''cujicillo'', and ''dormilonga'' (Latin America).
FAO. It is native to Central America, parts of South America, the West Indies, and Florida. It is now found in the US, in Australia and in South-East Asia.Heuzé V., Thiollet H., Tran G., Salgado P., Lebas F., 2018. American jointvetch (Aeschynomene americana). Feedipedia, a programme by INRA, CIRAD, AFZ and FAO. https://www.feedipedia.org/node/569 Last updated on January 30, 2018, 14:16 This plant is an annual or perennial herb growing up to 2 meters tall. The leaves are up to 7 centimeters long and have several pairs of linear to oblong leaflets. The sensitive leaves fold up when touched. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is a

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...

of flowers each up to a centimeter long. The flowers range in color from white to pinkish, orange, or purplish. The fruit is a curved

legume Legumes are plants in the pea family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consum ...

pod up to 4 centimeters long made up of several jointed units, each unit containing a seed. This species is widely used as a

green manure In agriculture, a green manure is a crop specifically cultivated to be incorporated into the soil while still green. Typically, the green manure's Biomass (ecology), biomass is incorporated with a plow or disk, as is often done with (brown) man ...

or pasture plant throughout the tropical world. It is grazed by

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

and may be cut for

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

.''Aeschynomene americana''.
USDA NRCS Plant Fact Sheet. Cattle readily eat the plant and spread the seeds on their coats and in manure. Available

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s include 'Glenn'. In the wild it is generally a

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

plant, easily taking hold in wet places such as drainage ditches. It is grazed by deer, and the seeds are eaten by wild birds.

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americana Americana may refer to: *Americana music, a genre or style of American music * Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1981 film), an American drama film * ''Americana'' (20 ...

Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Dalbergieae-stub