Author: (Desf.) Hattink
Morphological description (pubescens Caesalpcompl FT20 )
Liana or scandent shrub (or tree ?), up to 10(–15) m; branchlets with few recurved prickles. Stipules acute, persistent, up to 2 by 0.5 mm, hairy.
Leaves: bipinnate; rachis 20–60 cm, often with recurve prickels; pinnae 9–15 pairs. Leaflets petiolulate (0.5–1 mm), 5–10 pairs per pinna, oblong or elliptic-oblong, 8–24 by 4–12 mm; apex truncate or retuse; base rounded, more or less asymmetric; shortly appressed hairy, sometimes almost glabrous.
Inflorescences axillary and terminal, racemose, rachis pubescent; bracts lanceolate, 5–10(–20) by 2–3(–4) mm (incl. the acuminate apex), pubescent; pedicels 20–35 mm, pubescent, articulated c. 3 mm below the top.
Flowers: buds almost globose, 7.5–10 mm in diameter, pubescent. Hypanthium 2–4 mm deep and 7–8 mm wide. Sepals 7–16 by 3–7 mm, pubescent on both surfaces. Petals: standard with claw 3 by 0.5 mm, prolonged into a glabrous ligule, limb reniform to broadly ovate, 4–5 by c. 10 mm, margins hairy; the other petals with claw very short, hairy, limb suborbicular, 10–20 mm in diameter, sometimes ciliate. Stamens exserted; filaments 12–15 mm; anthers 2.5–3.5 mm long, glabrous. Pistil (sub)sessile, pubescent except the upper half of the style; ovary 5–8 by 2–3 mm, 4–7-ovuled; style 3–5 mm; stigma 0.5 mm wide, hairy on the margin.
Pods indehiscent, 10–15 by 4–5(–6) cm (incl. the 8–12(–16) mm wide wing); 4–7-seeded (pubescens Caesalpcompl FT20 ;pubescens Caes pod Reinw9/4 ).
Seeds compactly arranged in the middle of the pod (number of seeds not countable from outside), ellipsoid in outline, 8–10 by 3–6 mm, brown, smooth.
Distribution
N Vietnam (coast of Annam), Thailand (Peninsula); in Malesia: Sumatra (Bangka), Java (all parts, also Madura and Kangean Is.), Philippines (C Luzon), Celebes (SW and Salajar), Lesser Sunda Islands (Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Timor, Wetar).
Habitat & Ecology
Monsoon forests, scrubland, savannahs, up to 700 m altitude. Prefers a seasonal drought and flowers at the end of the wet season.