Entada abyssinica Steud. ex A. Rich, Tent. Fl. Abyss. 1: 234. 1847.

= Entada abyssinica var. microphylla Oliv., Fl. Trop. Afr. 2: 228. 1871. Synon. nov.

= Entada abyssinica var. intermedia Fiori, L’Agricoltura Colon. 5: 170. 1911. Placed as a synonym of E. abyssinica by Thulin (1983) in Leguminosae of Ethiopia: 36. 1983.

Types.

ETHIOPIA. Tigray region, mountains of Shire Dschogardi, Schimper 520 (isosyntypes: BR [BR0000008378606], H [H1034939], HAL [HAL0120946], K [000232163, 000232164], LG [LG0000090027161], M [0108317], MO [MO-954247], MPU [MPU016174], P [P00418276, P00418277 & P00418278], S [S13-12046], TUB [TUB000996 & TUB000997]); ETHIOPIA. Abyssinie, Quartin Dillon s.n. (syntype: MPU [MPU016240 & MPU016246]).

Description.

Tree 2.7-10(-15) m tall, crown spreading (Figs 2B, 6A). Leaves: rachis 16.3-21.7 cm long, tendrils absent; pinnae 12-20 pairs per leaf, each pinna 4.8-7.8 cm long, with 20-55 pairs of leaflets; leaflets 4-12 × 1-3 mm, linear-oblong, apex rounded to obtuse and mucronate, base rounded to sub-truncate, mid-rib oblique, closer to the distal margin, lamina appressed-pubescent above and below though sometimes glabrescent above (Fig. 6C). Inflorescence: a 7-16 cm long spiciform raceme, either solitary or in groups of up to 4 inserted in a supra-axillary position, inflorescence peduncle and rachis pubescent (Fig. 6B). Flowers: creamy white turning yellowish, sweetly scented, pedicels 0.5-1 mm long; calyx 0.75-1 mm long, shallowly toothed, glabrous; petals 1.5-3 × 1 mm; stamen filaments 3.5-6 mm long (Fig. 6B). Fruit: a laterally compressed, torulose, almost straight craspedium, 15-39 × 3.8-9 cm, with transverse septa between seeds dividing the fruit into one-seeded segments which, upon ripening, fall from the persistent replum; segments moderately umbonate over seeds (Fig. 6C). Seeds: 1-1.3 × 0.8-1 cm, pleurogram elliptic, C-shaped or closed.

Distribution.

Tropical and southern subtropical Africa (excluding Madagascar).

Habitat and ecology.

Wooded grassland (Chipya), fringes of woodland (Miombo, characterised by Brachystegia Benth.), riparian vegetation and - in Sierra Leone - on laterite plateaux; 430-2290 m alt.