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Leguminosae-mim Adenanthera pavonina L.

Leguminosae-mim Adenanthera pavonina
| | © W.D. Hawthorne

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Species information

Description
The flowers are faintly scented like orange blossom; the pods have bright red seeds. Leaves bipinnate; 2-6 opposite pairs of pinnae, each with 8-21 leaflets on short stalks; alternate leaflets 2-2.5 x 3 cm, oval-oblong, with an asymmetric base and blunt apex, dull green on topside and blue-green underside; leaves turn yellow with age. Flowers borne in narrow spikelike racemes, 12-15 cm long, at branch ends; flowers small, creamy yellow, fragrant; each flower star shaped with 5 petals, connate at the base, and having 10 prominent stamen-bearing anthers tipped with minute glands. Pods long and narrow, 15-22 x 2 cm with slight constrictions between seeds, dark brown, turning black upon ripening, leathery, curve and twist upon dehiscence to reveal 8-12 hard-coated, showy seeds, 7.5-9 mm in diameter, lens shaped, vivid scarlet; seeds adhere to pod. Ripened pods remain on the tree for long periods, sometimes until the following spring. Chicken eyes (Adenanthera bicolor), another species of Adenanthera native to Sri Lanka. The seeds are similar to Circassian seeds except they have a black spot at one end., making them like Abrus.

Interest
The generic name is derived from Gk. aden, gland and anthera, stamen. The stamens have glands. Red Sandelwood of India. Pavo is latin for peacock, originating from India to the Moluccas. Seeds (8mm bright red, slightly compressed) used in necklaces, and were once used like Abrus (which has red and black hards seeds) as a standard measureof weight (1 seed c. 4 grains). Adenanthera seeds are twice as heavy as those of Abrus. According to the Flora of Ceylon (Volume 1) by M.D. Dassanayake, a red dye is obtained from the wood which is used by Brahmins to mark religious symbols on their foreheads. In India, seedsa re sometimes hollow out and filled with many minute carved ivory-coloured elephants/ Circassian seeds

Specimen information

Collection Date
23/11/1999

Collector
W.D. Hawthorne, C. Hughes

Specimen Number
159

Location
S slopes of Morne Gazzo, nr the entrance to the Forest Reserve and trail system.

Notes
Medium-sized tree to 15m ht with heavy branching and an open, spreading crown, the upper bole sometimes sl. spirally fluted. Bark fawn, slash soft, white, and fibrous. Very large bipinnate leaves with a large swollen pulvinus, the rachis grooved, with 5-6 pairs of pinnae on saplings, leaving prominent scars on stem or twigs when fallen. Leaflets thin, papery; upper surface - matt, laterals just visible; lower surface glaucous, laterals just visible. Pods spirally dehiscent, dark brown with a pale creamy-yellow endocarp visible when dehisced, the pillar-box red seeds remaining attached to valves. Very common in lower Morne Gazzo forest areas and regenerating abundantly under its own shade. (RHS colour code: Leaf upper =139A, below=137C)

Coordinates
Latitude: 12.020000 N   Longitude: 61.430000 W   Altitude: 265