Uraria crinita Seeds | Cat’s Tail Plant
LATIN NAME: Uraria crinita
COMMON NAME: Cat’s Tail Plant
Plant Profile
Cat’s Tail Plant is an upright perennial legume of tropical Asia, with stems to a metre or more, three-part leaves and dense, velvet-hairy flower spikes that stand up like a cat’s tail, a comparison no one who sees them disputes. The spikes are pinkish purple and carried well above the foliage through the warm season.
It grows in open scrub and grassland in its home range, on deep, moisture-retentive soil in full sun. In frost-free gardens it is an architectural curiosity for the back of a border, and its dense spikes are worked steadily by carpenter bees, which visit the flowers by weight rather than by stealth.
Science & Biotechnology
The genus Uraria belongs to the desmodium tribe of the pea family, and its dense hairy spikes separate it from the flat-headed cousins. In Thai and Chinese traditional practice the whole plant is used in summer cooling drinks and tonics, and pharmacological work on its extracts has followed the traditional use, though it remains a folk remedy rather than a pharmacopoeial drug.
As a legume it fixes nitrogen, and in Southeast Asia it has been tried as a fodder plant, though its value is ornamental and traditional rather than agricultural. The velvet hairs on the spike are outgrowths of the bracts, and their density has been used as a character to separate this species from its closest relatives in the genus.
Uses & Benefits
It is grown as an ornamental for its improbable flower spikes, as a bee plant for the large native bees that work it, and in its home region as a traditional herb for summer drinks. It fits a warm border beside gingers and cannas, giving height without shade.
In pots it makes a striking subject for a warm conservatory, where the spikes can be examined closely; the hairs on the spikes are dense but not irritant. Its stems are also cut and dried for winter arrangements, where the velvet spikes hold their colour and shape for a season or more.
Growing from Seed
Sow the seed half a centimetre deep in a warm, free-draining mix at 25 °C after an overnight soak in warm water.
Germination takes one to three weeks; the seedlings are upright from the start and want full sun.
Pot on as they fill the container, pinch once to make them branch, and keep them warm and moist; flowering comes within a year of a spring sowing, and the spikes are at their best in the plant’s second season. Watch for red spider in a dry conservatory and mist the foliage weekly, since the plant is happiest in the humid air its native scrub provides. Cut the spent spikes back to the first leaf joint and the plant will often throw a second, shorter flush before the season ends.
Our Take
A legume that grows its own cat’s tails: velvet purple spikes above clean foliage, quick from seed and irresistible to big bees.
Related Reading
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