Chamaecrista aeschinomene (DC. ex Collad.) Greene

• Title

  Chamaecrista aeschinomene (DC. ex Collad.) Greene

• Authors

  Nathaniel Lord Britton, Frances W. Horne

• Scientific Name

  Chamaecrista aeschinomene (DC. ex Collad.) Greene

• Description

  Flora Borinqueña Chamaecrista Aeschinomene Small-flowered Partridge-pea Family Caesalpiniaceae Senna Family Cassia Aeshinomene De Candolle; Colladon Histoire Naturelle des Casses 127. 1816. Chamaecrista Aeshinomene Greene, Pittonia 4: 32, 1899. Chamaecrista Mlillspausghi Pollard, Field Museum Publications, Botany 2: 47. 1900. With finely divided leaves, and small, yellow flowers, this species inhabits banks and hillsides in Porto Rico, ranging from sand-dunes along the coast to about 800 meters elevation in the mountains, and has also been observed on the small islands Vieques and Desecheo ; its geographic distribution extends through all the Greater Antilles. The plant was first made known from specimens collected in Santo Domingo prior to 1816. Specimens collected by Doctor Millspaugh in Porto Rico, in1899, were at first supposed to represent a different species, which was named in his honor in 1900; subsequent studies of many additional specimens, both from Santo Domingo and from Porto Rico indicate that the plants from the two areas are the same. For an account of the genus we refer to our description of Chamaecrista Swartzii. Chamaecrista aeschinomene (the leaves resemble those of some species of the genus Aeschynomene, of the Pea Family) is herbaceous, but slightly woody, upright, diffuse, or prostrate, often without branches; it may become nearly a meter high, but is usually much lower, and is smooth, or more or less hairy. The narrowly lance-shaped, long-pointed, striate stipules are from 6 to 12 millimeters long; the leaf-stalks are about as long as the stipules, or shorter, and bear a large, depressed gland; the leaves are composed of from 7 to 25 pairs of narrow, thin, rather strongly veined leaflets from 8 to 15 millimeters long. The flowers are [ ] or solitary in or near the leaf-axils, on short stalks; the lance-shaped, pointed sepals are from 5 to 7 millimeters long, the obovate, yellow petals a little longer, the stamens from 5 to 7. The pod is from 3 to 5 centimeters long, 2.5 to 4 millimeters wide.