Caesalpinia sappan L.
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Authority
Isley, Duane. 1975. Leguminosae of the United States: II. Subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 25 (2): 1-228.
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Family
Caesalpiniaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Prickly, puberulent to glabrate shrub or tree. Leafstalk 2.5-4 dm; pinnae 7-10 pairs, sometimes plus 1; leaflets 10-20 pairs, subsessile, asymmetric-rhomboid, attached at one corner, 1.4-2.3 cm, 1.8-2.2 r, with evident venation, inconspicuously punctate or not. Nodal and stipellar prickles present or not. Stipules not seen, said to be conspicuous and deciduous. Flowers in simple or compound, terminal, initially rusty-puberulent racemes, 1-3 dm. Pedicels jointed at apex, 1-1.5 cm; calyx lobes imbricate, unequal, .8-1.2 cm, the outer cucullate in bud; petals yellow, 1-1.4 cm; filaments slightly longer, tangled-pilose. Legume slowly dehiscent, asymmetric-elliptic to short-oblong, 6-10 cm long, 3-4 cm wide with oblique beak; valves woody, brown. Seeds 2-4.
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Discussion
CN 2n = 24 (Darlington and Wylie, 1956). The wood of Caesalpinia sappan is the source of a red dye once commercially important and is used in cabinet work in the tropics (Uphof, 1968; Purseglove, 1968).
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Distribution
Subtropical Florida. Novelty. (May-)July-Oct.(-Nov.). Asia, widespread in tropics, of both hemispheres.
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