Monographs Details:
Authority:

Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
Family:

Mimosaceae
Scientific Name:

Pithecellobium
Description:

Genus Description - Trees or shrubs. Leaves twice-pinnate; pinnae and leaflets opposite, 1 to several pairs; petiole and rachis with nectariferous glands; stipules usually spiny, persistent. Flowers bisexual, in globose heads, these long-pedunculate, solitary or in axillary or terminal racemes; calyx minute, cup-shaped to bell-shaped, with 5 minute teeth at apex; corolla yellow or pink, bell-shaped, 5- or 6-lobed; stamens numerous, long-exserted, the filaments basally fused into a tube, this free from the corolla; ovary stipitate, with several ovules, the style filiform, the stigma punctiform. Legume oblong, turgid, leathery, curved and twisted, dehiscent by twisting valves; seeds variously shaped, usually arillate and hanging from valves.

Distribution and Ecology - A genus of about 200 species with pantropical distribution.