Author: L.
Morphological description (Gledtisia rolfei compl FM34 )
Trees , trunks and branches armed with simple or branched thorns.
Leaves pinnate and/or bipinnate. Stipules minute, caducous. Leaflets subopposite or alternate, slightly asymmetric, often with crenate margin.
Inflorescences axillary, racemose (triacanthos Gledits infl 256070), solitary or fasciculate, rarely paniculate; bracts and bracteoles absent at anthesis; pedicels articulate.
Flowers perfect or imperfect, unisexual or bisexual, the plants dioecious or polygamous. Hypanthium campanulate, lined with nectariferous tissue. Calyx 3--5-lobed, subequal. Petals 3--5, subequal, imbricate, not clawed. Stamens 5--10, exserted in male and bixesual flowers, reduced in female; filaments free, more or less equal; anthers longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary subsessile in female or bisexual flowers, rudimentary or absent in male, 2--30-ovuled; style short; stigma terminal, often 2-lobed.
Pods indehiscent or tardily dehiscent, oblong or elongate, compressed, more or less coriaceous, 1--many-seeded.
Seeds transverse, broadly ellipsoid to subquadrate, compressed, albuminous.
Distribution
About 14 species, 2 or 3 in eastern N America, 1 in southern S America, c. 1 around the Caspian Sea, 1 in Malesia : Gleditsia rolfei (Philippines and Celebes), the rest in India, Laos, Vietnam, China, Korea, and Japan.
Note
The original spelling of the generic name Gleditsia is to be retained and is not to be altered to Gleditschia . See Intern. Code Bot. Nomencl. (1994) Art. 60.7, Ex. 9).