KATURAY

Description
► Scientific name: Sesbania grandiflora (L.) Pers.
► vegetable hummingbird/ agati
► Katuray is an edible flower (pea flower) that is bitter
► Native in Asian countries
Classification
► Katuray belongs to the Legume family (Fabacea)
► Growth habit: small tree (usually 5-12 meters high)
► Life cycle: Perennial
► Mode of reproduction: Sexual
Diagnostic Character
► flowers of Katuray can be white, yellowish, pink or red
► roots are heavily nodulated
► trunk is straight with few branches
► leaves, up to 30 cm long, are pinnately compound
Uses
► The dried leaves are used in some countries as a tea
► Leaves, seeds, pods and flowers are edible
► Flowers have acrid, bitter, and astringent taste and are eaten both cooked and
raw, in salads, curries, and as a steamed vegetable
Description
Agati (Sesbania grandiflora (L.) Pers.) is a legume tree used for fodder in humid tropical regions.
Morphology
Sesbania grandiflora is a fast-growing perennial, deciduous or evergreen legume tree, up to 10-15 m high
(Ecocrop, 2010). Its lifespan is about 20 years (Heering et al., 1992). Its roots are heavily nodulated and some
floating roots may develop in waterlogged conditions. The trunk is straight with few branches. The leaves, up
to 30 cm long, are pinnately compound with 20-50 oblong leaflets, 1-4 cm long and 0.5-1.5 cm broad. The
flowers are white, yellowish, pink or red and borne in axillary racemes. The pods are 50-60 cm long, glabrous
and indehiscent, and hang vertically. They contain 15 to 50 dark brown seeds, 5 mm long and 2.5-3 mm broad
(Ecocrop, 2010; Cook et al., 2005).
Utilisation
Sesbania grandiflora is a valued fodder for ruminants. It is used in grazed paddocks as mature trees are out of
browse height, or as cut-and-carry forage integrated into cropping systems. Its low tolerance to defoliation
makes it badly suited to direct grazing (Cook et al., 2005). Little or no breeding work has been undertaken. In
Indonesia, early flowering varieties are preferred and selected for by local farmers in Lombok, where flowers
are an important food crop, while later flowering varieties predominate in West Timor, where the species is
primarily used as a cut and carry cattle feed (Cook et al., 2005). The leaves, flowers and pods of Sesbania
grandiflora are eaten as a vegetable in Southeast Asia. The dried leaves are used for their ethno-medicinal
properties (FAO, 2010; Duke, 1983; Gutteridge et al., 1994). Other uses include firewood and green manure.
Plants consist of large pea-like flowers and grow in clusters of 2-5 at the base of leaves. Flower is normally
large, white, yellowish, rose pink or red colored and 7-9 cm long with a calyx 15-22 mm and corolla with
standard and wings, staminal tube and glabrous ovary and style.
Rose
Katuray