Astragalus complanatus seeds

LATIN NAME: ASTRAGALUS COMPLANATUS

COMMON NAME: Flat-Stemmed Milkvetch

The flat-stemmed milkvetch sceptres the low, sprawling perennial with the slender, trailing stems, the pinnate leaves of the many small leaflets and the loose, upright spikes of the small, pea-like flowers in the soft blues and the purples that open through the summer, the small, inflated pods following, the spikes sceptre above the foliage. It likes the sun, and the light, well-drained soil.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The traditional seed uses of the flat-stemmed milkvetch give it a recognised place in the research on the temperate medicinal legumes of the pea family, and the complanatus species appears in the studies of the seed chemistry and the dry, sunny-ground growth. The work looks at the nitrogen-fixing roots, the inflated pods, and the seed biology. The pharmacognosists value the traditional preparations, and the growers of the hardy, useful legumes keep the species in their catalogues.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the sunny, dry garden, the flat-stemmed milkvetch sceptres the summer border with the blue flower spikes. The seeds have served the traditional remedies for the ages, the plant feeds the bees, and the roots fix the nitrogen and hold the loose ground. It grows well in the light, well-drained, sunny soil. Blue-spiked, soil-feeding and useful.

To grow the Flat-Stemmed Milkvetch from seed, drop the seeds into the warm water, let them soak for the night, then sow them into the sandy drills of the tray, keep the tray in the warm, bright spot and mist gently, and the seedlings spring up within a couple of weeks.

Keep the tray in the warm, bright spot and mist gently, and pot the seedlings on as they grow. The sceptred spikes come within the season. Set the young plants in the sunny, light ground, and the sceptred spikes will rise through the summer.

This species has been used for almost 2,000 years in China as a liver and kidney tonic. The seed is hepatic and ophthalmic. It is used in the treatment of kidney diseases, lumbago, spontaneous seminal emissions, frequent micturation, vertigo and decreased sight