Parkinsonia aculeata L.

FLORA OF MADAGASCAR
Parkinsonia aculeata L.
SW Madagascar, Toliara (Tulear) Province,
c. 5 km north of Toliara, on the road to
Morombe, just south of the Fiherenana
River.
Map Ref.: 23°19’S 43°39'E
Roadside shrub in heavily grazed area of
grassland with occasional trees, shrubs and
sizal (also MSI, Acacia nilotica). Sandy red
soil. Common.
Alt. 30 m
Shrub c. 4 m tall. Bark on large branches
still green. Leaves from very spiny short
side shoots, very long, coriaceous, deep
green, slightly paler beneath, with a broad,
flattened rachis and numerous small leaflets.
Racemes also from short shoots, multi-
flowered. Flowers 22-27 mm in diameter,
bright yellow, honey-scented, the upper petal
longer-clawed and speckled with red at the
base and fading copper-red. All petals
crumpled. Stamens 10, yellowish with pale
brown anthers; filaments hairy. Pods
subcylindrical, flattened more strongly and
constricted between the seeds, rather
wrinkled, straw-coloured. Seeds c. 8 mm
long (rattling in the pods), olive green with
brown blotching, narrow.
VERNACULAR NAME: "Tainoro”,
Asambi".
LOCAL USES: Young seed pods eaten by
children - not cultivated as sufficient wild
shrubs. Sweet taste.
D.J. & B.P. Du Puy, P. Ravonjiarisoa &
P. Phillipson
19.1.89	M80
EX HERB. HORT. BOT. REG. KEW.
04800006