Entada mannii (Oliv.) Tisser., Bull. Soc. Bot. France 99: 257. 1953.

= Entada bequaertii De Wild., Pl. Bequaert. 3: 79. 1925.

Type.

EQUATORIAL GUINEA. Fernando Pó (Boiko), Mann 414 (holotype: K [K000232169]).

Basionym.

Piptadenia mannii Oliv., Fl. Trop. Afr. [Oliver et al.] 2: 329. 1871.

Description.

Shrub, scandent, sometimes becoming arborescent, to 30 m, stem 15 cm diameter near base, glabrous (Fig. 17A). Leaves: rachis 5-20 cm long, sparsely pubescent; pinnae 3-6 pairs per leaf, one or more pinnae sometimes modified into a tendril, leaflet-bearing pinnae 4-6 cm long, with 8-13 pairs of leaflets; leaflets 4-16(-21) × 1.5-7 mm, oblong, apex retuse, base rounded, asymmetric, lamina glabrous to puberulous above, pubescent below (Fig. 17B). Inflorescence: an axillary spiciform raceme, 5.5-10 cm long, in panicles from the upper axils, rachis pubescent (Fig. 17D). Flowers: white, minutely pedicellate; calyx 0.7-1 mm, shallowly toothed, glabrous to puberulous; petals 2 mm long (Fig. 17D). Fruit: a torulose, laterally compressed, straight craspedium, 15-45 × 6-10 cm, with transverse septa between seeds dividing the fruit into one-seeded segments which, upon ripening, fall from the persistent replum (Fig. 17E). Seeds: elliptic, 1.8 × 0.9 cm, pleurogram present.

Distribution.

Tropical West Africa, from Senegal to Angola.

Habitat and ecology.

Riparian forest and on rocky hills in forest.