Entada polystachya (L.) DC., Mem . Legum . 434. t. 61. 1825.

O'Donnell, Shawn A., Ringelberg, Jens J. & Lewis, Gwilym P., 2022, Re-circumscription of the mimosoid genus Entada including new combinations for all species of the phylogenetically nested Elephantorrhiza (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae, mimosoid clade), PhytoKeys 205, pp. 99-145 : 99

publication ID

https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.205.76790

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/260BA5F0-5CC0-5A66-93D8-63CD2A034AD0

treatment provided by

PhytoKeys by Pensoft

scientific name

Entada polystachya (L.) DC., Mem . Legum . 434. t. 61. 1825.
status

 

Entada polystachya (L.) DC., Mem. Legum. 434. t. 61. 1825.

= Entada chiliantha DC., Mém. Légum. 422. 1826.

= Entada plumeri Spreng., Syst. Veg. 4(2): 164. 1827.

= Entada acaciifolia Benth., Trans. Linn. Soc. London 30: 365. 1875.

Type.

illustration in Plumier, Pl. Amer. 1: tab. 12. 1755.

Basionym.

Mimosa polystachya L., Sp. Pl. 1: 520. 1753.

Description.

Liana or scandent shrub to 10 m. Leaves: rachis 6-13 cm long, glabrous to puberulous; pinnae (2-)3-5 pairs per leaf, 3.5-8 cm long, with 5-11 pairs of leaflets; leaflets 1.5-4 × 0.5-2 cm, oblong, apex rounded, base oblique, lamina glabrous above and below (Fig. 19A View Figure 19 ). Inflorescence: a terminal one-sided panicle of up-turned spikes, each spike 8-10 cm long, spike rachis glabrous to puberulous (Fig. 19A, C View Figure 19 ). Flowers: cream-coloured (the stamens) and reddish (the sepals and petals), with an unpleasant odour; calyx cupular, 1 mm long; petals 2.5-4 × 0.8-1 mm; stamen filaments 4 mm long (Fig. 19D View Figure 19 ). Fruit: a torulose, laterally compressed, falcate craspedium 15-30(-40) × (5-)5.5-9.3 cm, with transverse septa between seeds dividing the fruit into one-seeded segments which, upon ripening, fall from the persistent replum; mesocarp over seeds conspicuous and spongy (Fig. 19E View Figure 19 ). Seeds: elliptic, 1.2-1.7 × 0.8-1.3 × 2-4 mm, with pleurogram.

Distribution.

Pacific Mexico east to Lesser Antilles and south to Bolivia.

Habitat and ecology.

Seasonally dry and humid forest near the coast, especially on the margins of mangroves, occasionally reaching the forest canopy.

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Magnoliopsida

Order

Fabales

Family

Fabaceae

Genus

Entada