Glycine tomentella

Glycine tomentella, the rusty glycine or woolly glycine, is a perennial herbaceous to subwoody twining vine in the legume family Fabaceae. It is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of Australia, Southeast Asia, the Pacific and southern China, and is one of the perennial wild relatives of the cultivated soybean (Glycine max). Stems are slender, twining, and densely covered in soft rusty-brown to grey tomentum, as are the petioles and leaf undersides — accounting for the specific epithet. Leaves are alternate and trifoliolate, the leaflets ovate to elliptic, 2 to 6 centimetres long, with entire margins. Inflorescences are short axillary racemes of small papilionaceous flowers, pink to purple in colour. Fruits are flat, narrow, pubescent pods 2 to 4 centimetres long, containing several small dark seeds. The species is of significant interest as a genetic resource for soybean improvement.