[1][2] Flemingia vestita is a perennial herb, having a prostrate but weak stem, measuring about ~60 cm in average.

[5] This juicy tuber is a highly priced food among the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia tribes of Meghalaya, India.

[1] The delicate skin is easily peeled off to expose a smooth cream-coloured flesh that has a sweet, nut-like flavour.

[6] Experimental investigation started in 1996 when the in vitro activity of tuber peel extract was tested against different helminth parasites, including the nematodes such as Ascaris suum, Ascaris lumbricoides, Ascaridia galli, Heterakis gallinarum, a cestode Raillietina echinobothrida and trematodes such as Paramphistomum sp.,[7] Artyfechinostomum sufrartyfex and Fasciolopsis buski.

[8] In 1991 an isoflavone, genistein was isolated from the tuber extract[5] which was demonstrated to be the major anthelmintic principle, highly potent against trematodes and cestodes.

It was further demonstrated effective against the sheep liver fluke Fasciola hepatica[9] and human tapeworms such as Echinococcus multilocularis and E. granulosus metacestodes.

Mixed cropping with F. vestita was found to give better economic returns, mainly due to improved soil fertility with a net gain in nitrogen of up to 250 kg/ha/year.