Lysiloma latisiliquum (L.) Benth.

Authors

Rupert C. Barneby

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.

Family

Mimosaceae

Scientific Name

Lysiloma latisiliquum (L.) Benth.

Type

"Habitat in America calidiore." — Holotypus (De Wit, Taxon 10: 52. 1961): Acacia non spinosa, siliquis latis compressis, flore albo Plumier [Nova Pl. Amer. 17, phrase-name only quoted verbatim by Linnaeus] ex Burman, Pl. Amer. fasc. prim. 2, Pl. 6 (reprod

Synonyms

Mimosa latisiliqua L., Acacia latisiliqua (L.) Willd., Leucaena latisiliqua (L.) Gillis & Stearn, , Acacia bahamensis (Benth.) Griseb., Lysiloma latisiliquum subsp. lataefoliolatum A.Barreto & Yakovlev

Description

Species Description - Unarmed trees 5-13(-20) m, some flowering as arborescent shrubs, with smooth or scaley trunk attaining 1+ m dbh and fuscous pallid-lenticellate branchlets, appearing glabrous but the lf-axes often and those of inflorescence always at least minutely puberulent or strigulose with fine whitish hairs <0.3 mm, the bicolored lfts either glabrous on both faces, or minutely puberulent on one or both faces, or sometimes in addition weakly barbellate dorsally in anterior basal angle of midrib, the dense globose capitula fasciculate (solitary) at nodes of new shoots, the early ones subtended by a lf, the later by a pair of stipular bracts progressively smaller distally, then forming a terminal pseudoraceme, the terminal meristem of each flowering stem determinate and the whole branching pattern sympodial; resting buds not developed. Stipules green but submembranous, caducous, those at early nodes of new branchlets inequilaterally (ob)ovate to lance-elliptic from auriculate or semicordate base, acute, 10-26 x 3—12(—15) mm, those subtending peduncles progressively smaller and narrower distally, lanceolate 2-8 x 0.5-4.5 mm. Lf-formula ii- v(-vi)/(ll-)13-26(-28); lf-stk of longer lvs (3-)4.5- 10.5(-12) cm, the petiole (1)1.7—4(4.5) cm, usually a little longer than the interpinnal segments, these to 0.8-2.2(-3) cm; nectary near or above midpetiole, rarely next to first pair of pulvinules, plumply verruciform, obovoid or obliquely hemispherical, obtuse (0.4-)0.6-l .5 mm tall, at base 0.9-1.8 mm diam, fuscous or nigrescent, a similar nectary often at tip of lf-stk and randomly between pinna-pairs, a much smaller one at tip of most pinna-rachises; rachis of longer pinnae (4-)5-10 cm, the longer interfoliolar segments 3-5.5(-6.5) mm; pulvinules 0.3-0.6 mm; lfts decrescent at each end of rachis but otherwise subequilong, the blade narrowly oblong or oblong- elliptic from obliquely truncate or shallowly semicordate base, obtuse or obtusely triangular at apex, the larger ones 9—16 x 3—6.6 mm, 2.4—3.6(-4) times as long as wide; venation slenderly palmate-pinnate, the midrib centric or only a little forwardly displaced, prominulous only dorsally, the 1(-2) anterior primary nerves produced about to midblade, the 3-4 pairs of feeble immersed secondary ones sometimes visible only dorsally. Peduncles 1-5 per node, 10-34 mm, bracteolate shortly below capitulum, the bracteole 1-2.5 mm; capitula very densely (32-)40-54(-88)- fld, the fls sessile, subequilong, but the terminal one sometimes stouter and occasionally with 2 gynoecia, the perianth submembranous with thicker and crisply gray-puberulent lobes; bracts linear-oblanceolate or spatulate 0.9-1.8 mm, persistent; calyx turbinate- campanulate 1.6-2.6 mm, the obtuse teeth 0.4-0.7 mm; corolla 2.7-3.7(-4) mm, the ovate-triangular lobes 0.7-1.3 mm; androecium 12-24(-30)-merous, 11.5—14(—15) mm, the tube 0 9—1.5(—1.7) mm, about as long as the glabrous ovary, this obliquely conic at apex. Pods geotropic, glabrous, the stipe 14—43 mm, the straight (and not twisted), piano-compressed body oblong-elliptic in profile (5.5-)7.5-16(-18) x 2-4.5(-6.2) cm, acuminate or attentuate at each end, when well fertilized 9-13(-14)-seeded, the stiffly chartaceous valves framed by dorsally flattened or shallowly sulcate sutures, becoming low-bullate or crumpled over the seeds, the thin exocarp lustrous dark reddish-brown becoming dull black in age, deciduous in tesserae to expose the light tan or stramineous endocarp; dehiscence 0, the whole fruit tardily deciduous and the seeds released by weathering of the valves on the ground; funicles filiform; seeds narrowly elliptic in broad view, 6-7 x 3-4 mm, the testa dark brown sublustrous, the narrowly U-shaped pleurogram at middle of seed-faces.

Distribution and Ecology - In hammock, coppice, and scrub-woodland, mostly on limestone below 50 m, a vigorous pioneer following fire or cutting, locally plentiful and sometimes weedy in wasteland, in Florida locally cultivated; S peninsular Florida and the Keys; common nearly throughout the Bahamas (unknown from Andros) southeastward from Grand Bahama to the Caicos Is. and NW coast of Haiti; scattered through the length of Cuba; and plentiful in deciduous woodland of Yucatán Peninsula eastward from Tabasco, Mexico, S just into Guatemala (Petén) and Belize (distr. Cayo). —Map 63. — Fl. most prolifically II-V(VI), sporadically in other months.

Local Names and Uses - Singing beans, Wild tamarind (Florida, Bahamas); dormido, soplillo, tengiie, (Cuba); salam, salem, tzalam, (Yucatán, where the bark is used for tanning).

Common Names

Singing beans, wild tamarind, dormido, soplillo, tengiie, salam, salem, tzalam

Distribution

Florida United States of America North America| Grand Bahama Bahamas South America| Great Abaco Bahamas South America| New Providence Bahamas South America| Eleuthera Bahamas South America| Cat Island Bahamas South America| San Salvador Bahamas South America| Rum Cay Bahamas South America| Exuma Bahamas South America| Long Island Bahamas South America| Crooked Island Bahamas South America| Acklins Bahamas South America| Inaugua Bahamas South America| Mayaguana Bahamas South America| Turks and Caicos Islands South America| Haiti South America| Cuba South America| Tabasco Mexico North America| Chiapas Mexico North America| Campeche Mexico North America| Yucatán Mexico North America| Quintana Roo Mexico North America| Cayo Belize Central America| Petén Guatemala Central America|