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). Inflorescence: a terminal one-sided panicle of up-turned spikes, each spike 8-10 cm long, spike rachis glabrous to puberulous (Fig. 19A, C). 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). 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). 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.