Beggar's Ticks

Overview

Ohwia caudata is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and a pesticide. Its native range is Himalaya to S. Central & S. Japan and W. Malesia. The plant is distributed through E. Asia - China, Japan, Korea, India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia.

Vernacular Names

Beggar's ticks, Tick's trefoil (English).

Agroecology

Grows well in moist well-drained soil. Requires full sun (6-8 hours) with moderate water requirements. In China, O. caudata can be found growing on mountain slopes, roadsides, meadows, river banks, and forest edges, at an altitude of 100-1.000 m above sea level. This plant forms a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and allows it to grow in infertile soils.

Morphology

• Stems - erect, 1-2 m tall, much branched.
• Leaves - 3-foliolate; petiole 1.5-4 cm, often very narrowly winged; terminal leaflet blade lanceolate or oblong, 5-9 × 1.5-2.5 cm, lateral ones smaller, abaxially apparently glaucous and more densely hairy on raised veins, adaxially lucid and glabres­cent, base cuneate, apex acuminate or acute.
• Flowers - terminal or axillary, 5-30 cm; rachis densely pubescent intermixed with minute uncinate and appressed or spreading longer hairs, 2-flowered at each node. Pedicel 3-4 mm. Calyx 3.5-4 mm, up­per 2 lobes united for 3/4 length or more. Corolla green-white or yellow-white; standard elliptic, shortly clawed; wings nar­rowly oblong, clawed; keel oblong, clawed. Ovary densely ap­pressed pilose on both sutures.
• Fruits - legume linear, flat, 5-7 cm, sessile, 4-8-jointed; articles narrowly ellipsoidal, with dense, short, brown, uncinate hairs.
• Seeds - ovoid, flat.

Cultivation

• Propagated by seeds - best sown as soon as it is ripe. Stored seed develops a hard seedcoat and may benefit from scarification before sowing in order to speed up and improve germination. The seed usually germinates within 1 - 4 months at 25°c. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots once they are large enough to handle and grow them on until large enough to plant out.
• By division - larger clumps can be replanted direct into their permanent positions, though it is best to pot up smaller clumps and grow them on until they are rooting well.
• By cuttings of half-ripe wood with a heel and root cuttings.

Chemical Constituents

Caudatan A and caudatan B, flavonoids (2'-hydroxyl yocovanol, 2'-hydroxyl neophellamuretin, yocovanol, swerticin, spinosin, 7-methyl-apigenin-6-C-β-glucopyranosyl 2″-O-β-d-xylopyranoside), triterpenoids, and alkaloids.

Traditional Medicinal Uses

• The plant is analgesic, antipyretic, antiseptic and depurative.
• The root and leaves are diuretic.
• Stems and roots have been used medicinally to treat various diseases like fever, dysentery, icterohepatitis, and abscess.