Local names:
Filipino (asiasimanan (Tagalog)), Indonesian (tuwa areuy (Sundanese)), Malay (tuba bekut (Peninsular)), Thai (phak thaep (central)), Vietnamese (c[os]c k[es]n n[uw][ows]c)
A liana up to at least 15 m long, sometimes an erect shrub, branches soon becoming glabrous, dark red. Leaflets 3-5(-7), variably glabrous. Inflorescence terminal and axillary; flowers with glabrous, green calyx and white, pale pink or pale mauve corolla, standard without basal callosities, glabrous; fruit oblong or elliptical to broadly oval, with a narrow wing along one side.
Ecology
D. trifoliata grows near the coast in swampy scrub vegetation and forest behind beaches, on muddy foreshores and estuaries, and in edges of mangroves, sometimes in pure stands.
Native range
Australia, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea
Tree management
D. trifoliata grows near the coast in swampy scrub vegetation and forest behind beaches, on muddy foreshores and estuaries, and in edges of mangroves, sometimes in pure stands.
Poison: It serves as a fish poison.
Fodder: The leaves are sometimes used as fodder.
Tannin or dyestuff: The bark contains up to 9.5% tannin.
Medicine: D. trifoliata is used in local medicine in India as a stimulant, antispasmodic and counter-irritant, and against rheumatism, chronic paralysis and dysmenorrhoea, and in Papua New Guinea a decoction of the roots is used externally against fever and internally against sores. Thai traditional doctors use roots or stems as a laxative, carminative and anti-arthritis treatment.