Leaves
bipinnate; a gland often present at the junction of the lowest pair of pinnae; pinnae each with several to many pairs of small leaflets; stipules setaceous, persistent
Flowers
in ovate-globose heads, all bisexual or lower neuter and sometimes without petals but with short staminodes
Calyx
campanulate, shortly 5-dentate
Petals
5, free or cohering slightly
Stamens
10 or 5, free, exserted; anthers eglandular apically
Ovary
subsessile; style subulate or thickened above; stigma terminal
Pods
linear, straight or ± falcate, compressed, dehiscing into 2 valves, continuous within or subseptate between seeds
Seeds
lying lengthwise or obliquely in the pod, compressed
x = 7, 11 (aneuploids)
Nomenclature:
*Desmanthus
Willd.
Willdenow: 1044 (1806) name conserved
Hutchinson: 281 (1964)
Ross: 120 (1975)
Distribution & Notes:
Global
: Species ± 22, mainly in the tropics and subtropics of the New World
Southern Africa
: Species 1: *
Desmanthus virgatus
(L.) Willd., has become naturalised in KwaZulu-Natal near Pietermaritzburg
References:
HUTCHINSON, J. 1964. Order LEGUMINALES.
The genera of flowering plants
1. Oxford University Press, Oxford
ROSS, J.H. 1975.
Fabaceae
.
Mimosoideae
.
Flora of southern Africa
16,1
WILLDENOW, C.L. VON. 1806. Caroli a Linné.
Species Plantarum
4,2. Nauk, Berlin
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