Author: Roxb.
Morphological description
Shrub or climber, up to 15 m; branchlets sparsely armed. Stipules scale-like, c. 0.5 mm long, 1 mm wide.
Leaves: rachis 20–40 cm; pinnae 8–12 pairs, 3–8 cm, shortly hairy to glabrous. Leaflets opposite, 8–12 pairs per pinna, petiolulate (0.5–1 mm), membranous, elliptic-oblong, 9–18 by 5–7 mm; base and apex rounded, margins parallel, glabrous (enneaphylla Caesalpinia FT20 ).
Inflorescences axillary and terminal, paniculate, 25–40 cm long, hairy to glabrous; bracts lanceolate, 1–2 by 0.25 mm, hairy; pedicels 10–20 mm, glabrous or sparsely hairy, articulated at 1–3 mm below the top.
Flower buds almost globose. Hypanthium c. 2 mm deep and 4–6 mm wide. Sepals 4–6 by 2–4 mm, ciliate. Petals: standard with claw 3 by 1 mm, prolonged into a ligule c. 1 mm long with a bilobed apex, the limb reflexed, suborbicular, 4–5 mm in diameter; other 4 petals with claw 1 by 1 mm, ciliate, the limb suborbicular, c. 5 mm in diameter. Stamens exserted; ¾laments c. 10 mm; anthers 1.5–2 mm, glabrous. Pistil subsessile, glabrous; ovary 4–5 by 1.5 mm, 4–6-ovuled; style c. 6 mm, stigma c. 1 mm in diameter, shortly ciliate.
Pods (pedicels 15–20 mm) indehiscent, very thin, 8–12 by 2.5–4 cm (including the 7–10 mm wide wing), base cuneate, apex acute, 4–6-seeded (enneaphylla Caesalpinia FT20 ).
Seeds ellipsoid, flat, c. 7 by 5 by 2 mm, brown, smooth.
Distribution
India, China, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, China; in Malesia: Java (Priangan, Rembang, Semarang), Celebes (Pangkadjene).
Habitat & Ecology
Forest fringes, c. 300 m altitude.