Clitoria ternatea

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Clitoria ternatea

Clitoria ternatea

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Subfamily:	Faboideae
Tribe:	Cicereae
Genus:	Clitoria
Species:	C. ternatea

Binomial name

Clitoria ternatea
L.

Flower at Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Clitoria ternatea is a vine native to tropical and equatorial Asia, but has been introduced to Africa, Australia and the New World. It grows well in moist neutral soil and requires little care. It is grown as an ornamental plant and as a revegetation species (e.g., in coal mines in Australia). It fixes nitrogen and is therefore also used . in southeast asia the flowers are use to colour food. In Malay cooking, an aqueous extract is used to colour glutinous rice for kuih tekan (also known as pulut seri kaya) and in nonya chang. In Thailand, a syrupy blue drink is made called nam dok anchan น้ำดอกอัญขัญ.