Caesalpinia furfuracea

Author: (Prain) Hattink

Morphological description

Liana or straggling shrub ; branchlets armed with recurved prickles (up to 5 mm long). Stipules persistent, scale-like, c. 0.5 by 1.5 mm.

Leaves: rachis 25–30 cm long; pinnae 7 or 8 pairs, opposite or sometimes subopposite, 6–10 cm long, hairy. Leaflets (furfuracea Caesalp pod/lfl FT21 ) opposite, 7–12 pairs per pinna, petiolulate (1 mm), membranous, oblong, 18–25 by 7–13 mm, base rounded or cuneate, apex rounded or retuse; glabrous or the costa below puberulous .

Inflorescences axillary and terminal, racemose and paniculate, up to c. 40 cm long, the rachis brown-hairy, glabrescent; bracts 8–12 by c. 0.5 mm, hairy; pedicels 20–25 mm, usually articulated 0.5–1.5 mm below the apex.

Flower buds glabrous. Hypanthium 2 mm deep and 7–8 mm wide. Sepals 8–15 by 4–6 mm, mostly ciliate. Petals glabrous: standard (furfuracea Caes petal Reinw9/5 ) with claw 2–4(–6) mm long, limb arched, 3–4(–7) by 5–6 mm, reflexed, rounded at the apex; the other 4 petals with claw 2–4 mm long, the limb suborbicular, c. 15–20 mm in diameter. Stamens exserted; ¾laments 15–20 mm, hairy to about the middle; anthers 4 mm, glabrous. Ovary 8 by 2 mm, glabrous, 4- or 5-ovuled; style c. 20 mm; stigma 1.5 mm in diameter, shortly ciliate.

Pods indehiscent, comparatively thin, 7–20 by 2.5–6 cm (incl. 10–17 mm wide wing), base cuneate, apex acute, often hooked, dull, 3- or 4-seeded (furfuracea Caesalp pod/lfl FT21).

Seeds spaced, ellipsoid, c. 11 by 6 by 4 mm, brown, smooth, dull.

Distribution
Burma, Thailand, and in Malesia: Lesser Sunda Islands (Timor, Alor).

Ecology
Seemingly preferring a strong seasonal drought.

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