Paraserianthes lophantha (Willd.) I.C.Nielsen
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Authors
Rupert C. Barneby
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Authority
Barneby, Rupert C. & Grimes, James W. 1996. Silk tree, guanacaste, monkey's earring: a generic system for the synandrous Mimosaceae of the Americas. Part I. Abarema, Albizia, and allies. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 74: 1-292.
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Family
Mimosaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
". . . découvert par Lahaye sur les côtes occidentales de la Nouvelle Hollande, à 34 degrés de latitude, introduit chez Cels en l’an 5 [1797]." — Non Mimosa distachya Cavanilles, 1795. — Lectotypus (Nielsen, et al. op. cit. 5(4): 353. 1983): B-WILLD 19419
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Synonyms
Acacia lophantha Willd.
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Description
Species Description - Microphyllidious trees of rapid growth and early maturity, attaining 8 m, the young branchlets and lf-axes densely tomentellous with sordid hairs to ±0.15-0.25 mm, the bicolored lfts dull dark olivaceous above, beneath paler and either glabrous or thinly strigulose, the fls borne in shortly pedunculate racemes either solitary or 2-4 together in the axil of coevally expanding lvs and greatly surpassed by them, the terminal meristem continuous. Stipules narrowly lanceolate or subulate ±1.5-3 mm, early caducous from small scar, absent from fruiting stems. Lf-formula vii—xi(—xiii)/24—38(-40); lf-stks 11-23 cm, tapering distally, the petiole ±3-6 cm, at middle 1.4-3.2 mm diam, the ventral groove continuous between pinna-pairs, the longer interpinnal segments 11-19 mm; petiolar nectary near or shortly below midpetiole sessile, elliptic-oblong, plane or shallowly dimpled or, when old, low-convex, 2-7 mm diam, in profile 0.3-1 mm tall, sometimes a second, smaller nectary above midpetiole and small round ones between the 1-2 furthest pinna-pairs, rarely a very small nectary at tip of some pinna-rachises; pinnae decrescent either proximally, or distally, or toward each end of lf-stk, the rachis of longer ones 7-11.5 cm, the longer interfoliolar segments ±2-4 mm; lft-pulvinules 0.2-0.6 x 0.4-0.5 mm, not wrinkled; lfts subequilong except at very ends of rachis, in outline broad-linear, linear-lanceolate or narrowly oblong from shallowly semicordate base, either acute, or deltately subacute, or obtuse apiculate, the longer ones 6.5-12 x 1.3-3(-3.8) mm, 3.2-5(-5.5) times as long as wide; venation weak, when perceptible palmate, the midrib forwardly displaced to divide blade ±1:2, the inner of 2-3 posterior primary nerves incurved to weak anastomosis beyond midblade, the outer 1-2 weak and short, the midrib either simple or weakly 1-2 branched on each side beyond middle, the whole venation immersed or almost so above, only the midrib prominulous beneath. Peduncles 1—2 cm, bracteolate near middle, the bracteole caducous; racemes ±45-70-fld, the axis 3-6 cm, the fls homomorphic; bracts rhombic-obovate ±1 mm, caducous as the fl-buds begin to swell; pedicels subhorizontal or a trifle declined 1-2.5 mm; perianth 5-merous, finely strigulose externally; calyx shallowly campanulate 2.2-3 mm, nearly as wide, the deltate or triangular teeth 0.6-1 mm, the tube sometimes circum-scissile at base when past anthesis; corolla greenish 5-7.2 mm, the ovate lobes 1.4—3 x 1.1-1.8 mm; androecium greenish- or lemon-yellow, 96-154-merous, 13-16.5 mm, the stemonozone obscure or to 0.5 mm, the tube 3-5.5 mm, sometimes thickened at base around stipe of ovary, this glabrous, the stipe <1 mm, the body compressed, shallowly sulcate laterally, tapering into the style; stigma poriform. Pods usually several per spike, stipitate, the stipe (including transitional pseudostipe) ±5-9 mm, the body in profile broad-linear or narrowly oblong, straight or nearly so, when well fertilized 8-11 (-12) x (1.3-) 1.5-2.3(-2.4) cm, 8-11-seeded, strongly compressed but bullately elevated over each seed, the stiffly papery, reddish brown or fuscous, sometimes finally pruinose, always glabrous valves framed by sutures ±1-1.3 mm wide (the ventral suture sharp-edged, the dorsal one plane or shallowly sulcate), the ripe valves either weakly cross-venulose especially near the sutures or reticulately so over seeds, in section ±0.2 mm thick, not septiferous between seeds; dehiscence tardy, inert, through both sutures; funicles compressed, sigmoid distally; seeds horizontal at middle of pod, plumply ellipsoid, in broad view 6-8.2 x 4—5.2 mm, the hard testa dull black or fuscous, the incomplete pleurogram deeply U-shaped.
Distribution and Ecology - A species of bicentric range in East Indies and SW Australia (Nielsen et al., 1983b, pl. 9) of which the typical subspecies, endemic to SW Australia, has been cultivated in tropical and warm-temperate regions of both hemispheres, in the Americas specifically in W-centr. and S California, S Florida, Colombia, N Venezuela, Ecuador, E Bolivia, seldom and nowhere extensively naturalized.
Local Names and Uses - Chipo (Colombia, where also bracatinga, properly Mimosa scabrella Bentham, is recorded).
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Common Names
Chipo
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Distribution
Australia Oceania|