Fabaceae FAMILY Least Concern

Cajanus scarabaeoides

Edibility

2/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial Climber

Growth—

Requires a sunny position. The var scarabaeoides is found in the wild on heavy soils, whilst var pedunculata is found on sandy, lateritic soils^[1]. Established plants are drought tolerant^[1]. It is also introduced in coastal west Africa and is considered a weed of open grasslands on Pacific islands^[2].This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria; these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby^[1].

Propagation

Seed - Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-19. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Cajanus+scarabaeoides>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

[1]Grassland Species - Profiles — http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/Gbase/Default.htm ↩︎Terse information on over 650 species of plants that grow in grassland, including trees, shrubs and perennial plants as well as grasses. Gives a brief description of the plant, its range and habitat and some of its uses.
[2]IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — http://www.iucnredlist.org/ ↩︎A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat.
[3]Flora of China — Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. · 1994 · http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available.
[4]Flowers of India — http://www.flowersofindia.net/ ↩︎A wed site of native Indian plants, plus cultivated and naturalized species. It has good quality photos and terse details on more than 3,000 species and cultivars.
[5]Plants and People of Nepal — Manandhar. N. P. · Timber Press. Oregon. · 2002 · ISBN 0-88192-527-6 ↩︎Excellent book, covering over 1,500 species of useful plants from Nepal together with information on the geography and peoples of Nepal. Good descriptions of the plants with terse notes on their uses.
[6]Genetic Resources of Under-exploited Legumes/Tribal Pulses of Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu — Kalidass C. & Mohan V.R. · 2011 ↩︎
[7]Pharmacognostic standardization and phytochemical investigation of Cajanus scarabaeoides (L.) Thouars — Anindya Sundar Ray & Chowdhury Habibur Rahaman · http://10.5958/0975-4385.2018.00018.3 · ISBN 0975-2331 ↩︎