Lespedeza cyrtobotrya

Lespedeza cyrtobotrya, commonly known as leafy lespedeza or maruba-hagi in Japanese, is a deciduous shrub in the Fabaceae growing 1 to 2 meters tall on slender wiry branches that arch outward. The leaves are pinnately trifoliate with broadly ovate to obovate leaflets 2 to 4 centimeters long, dark green above and paler beneath. Small papilionaceous flowers in shades of reddish-purple to magenta are borne in compact axillary racemes shorter than the subtending leaves in late summer and early autumn, followed by small flat one-seeded indehiscent legumes. The species is native to East Asia, occurring across Japan, Korea, northeastern China and the Russian Far East, where it inhabits dry sunny hillsides, forest margins and open woodland. It is cultivated in temperate gardens as an ornamental for its late-season floral display and is used in Japan and Korea as a soil-binding plant for revegetation and as fodder.