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The Variable glycine (Glycine tabacina) belongs to Fabaceae (the Pea family). It is a perennial that is distributed across Okinoerabu Island in Japan's Amami Islands, Ie Island and Yana Island in the Okinawa Islands, as well as the Penghu Islands and Kinmen Island in Taiwan, the Philippines, the Pacific Islands, and Australia. It grows in coastal wildlands and grasslands, is a vine, and reaches a height of 50 to 150 cm. The leaves are trifoliate, with leaflets ranging from oblong-lanceolate to ovate. From summer to fall, it produces racemes in the leaf axils, blooming with small, butterfly-shaped flowers ranging in color from bluish-purple to reddish-purple. The fruit is a linear to oblong pod. It is classified as Critically Endangered (CR) in the Ministry of the Environment's Red List. In Taiwanese Chinese, it is called "澎湖大豆".
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