Entada tuberosa R. Vig., Notul. Syst. (Paris) 13: 346. 1949.

Type.

MADAGASCAR. Maevarano, near Majunga (Mahajangal), H. Perrier de la Bâthie 12906 (lectotype: P [P00367633], designated by J.-F. Villiers in Leguminosae of Madagascar: 2002: 168) .

Description.

Climber, slender, woody, to 6 m, stem 1 cm in diameter, glabrous or pubescent, twining, with elevated nectaries at nodes; underground tuber elongated. Leaves: rachis 5-12.5 cm long, grooved above, laterally winged, glabrous or pubescent, white glandular mucro at apex; pinnae 2-4 pairs per leaf, 2-6.5 cm long, with 13-22 pairs of leaflets; leaflets 5-18 × 1.5-2 mm, oblong, apex rounded to obtuse and mucronate, base oblique, lamina glabrous, mid-rib near distal margin (Fig. 23A, B). Inflorescence: a dense, axillary spiciform raceme, 3-7 cm long, solitary or grouped on short leafless shoots or occupying terminal portions of leafy shoots, rachis glabrous or pubescent (Fig. 23A, B). Flowers: maroon-red, red-brown or greenish-brown, pedicels 0.75-1.5 mm; calyx obconical, 0.8-1.5 mm long, deeply toothed, glabrous; petals greenish, 3-4.5 mm long; stamen filaments red, 3.5-6.5 mm long (Fig. 23C). Fruit: a torulose, laterally compressed, falcate craspedium, 11-23 × 2.9-3.8 cm, 12-14-seeded, with transverse septa between seeds dividing the fruit into one-seeded segments which, upon ripening, fall from the persistent replum. Seeds: ovoid, 11 × 9 mm, dark brown, with pleurogram.