Chamaecrista serpens var. mensarum (Ant.Molina) H.S.Irwin & Barneby

  • Authors

    Howard S. Irwin, Rupert C. Barneby

  • Authority

    Irwin, Howard S. & Barneby, Rupert C. 1982. The American Cassiinae. A synoptical revision of Leguminosae tribe Cassieae subtrib Cassiinae in the New World. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 35, part 2: 455-918.

  • Family

    Caesalpiniaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Chamaecrista serpens var. mensarum (Ant.Molina) H.S.Irwin & Barneby

  • Type

    Holotypus, olim in herb. Esc. Agric. nunc in US translatus! isotypi, A, F, GH, MEXU, MO! paratypi, Standley 12814, 23246 etc., F, US!

  • Synonyms

    Cassia mensarum Ant.Molina

  • Description

    Variety Description - Stems and foliage varying from densely incurved-puberulent to subglabrous, exceptionally also weakly setose, the diffusely trailing stems suffruticulose in age; lvs mostly 1-3.3 cm, with (3-)4-5(-6) pairs of narrowly oblong-obovate to obliquely obovate lfts 3.5-12 x (1.3—)2.5—4.3 mm; fls of var. grandiflora; pod puberulent, not weakly setose.—Collections: 17. [Key: "Fl larger, the asymmetric petal 9-19(-20) mm, the longer anthers to 4-9.5 mm, the style (4-)4.5-10 mm; discontinuously dispersed from s. Arizona to n. Argentina. Lfts of larger lvs 3-7(-8) pairs; s. Mexico (Puebla, Oaxaca); Central America (Honduras and Nicaragua); South America (middle Orinoco valley to Argentina, localized and discontinuous). Lfts of broader outline, the widest of larger lvs (2.5-)2.7-6 mm wide. Petiolar gland l-several; either lowland Oaxaca, or highland Central America. Glands on all or at least 2 distal interfoliolar segments of rachis; larger lfts 3.5-12 X 2.5-4.5 mm, more than twice as long as wide, delicately venulose; highland s.-w. Honduras and adj. Nicaragua, 600-1300 m."]

    Distribution and Ecology - Open rocky hillsides, stony meadows, glades in pine-oak forest, sometimes trailing over roadside banks, locally abundant at 610-1300 m in the highlands of s.-w. Honduras (Morazán, El Paraíso) and extreme n.-w. Nicaragua (Volcán Viejo, Chinandega).—Fl. (VIII-)IX-XII.

  • Discussion

    Described as a relative of C. serpens, but different in its larger flower and pod and in the presence of glands between most or all pairs of leaflets in addition to that on the petiole. The flower is however, in effect, identical with that of var. grandiflora, and occasional glands are found on the leaf-stalk in this and other forms of Ch. serpens. The relatively wide leaflets, which vary around an obliquely obovate rather than narrowly oblong mean, contribute a recognizably distinct facies to var. mensarum, but we can find no solid basis for separating it from C. serpens at specific level. The leaflets are substantially broader and always fewer than in the races of var. wrightii geographically nearest in Chiapas, Mexico.

  • Distribution

    Morazán Honduras Central America| El Paraíso Honduras Central America| Chinandega Nicaragua Central America|