Leaves abruptly pinnate, with common petiole ending in a bristle; leaflets many-jugate, often small; stipules setaceous
Flowers in axillary racemes, or sometimes on short, leafless branches
Calyx with short tube and 5 small lobes; 2 upper lobes subconnate, tooth-like
Petals: vexillum ovate to round, glabrous, ± adnate to staminal tube below; wings with long claws; keel arcuate, longer and broader than wings, sometimes gibbous, long-clawed
Ovary subsessile, few- to many-ovuled; style short, incurved, with capitate stigma
Pod membranous or woody, oblong or linear, compressed, 2-valved, subseptate, glabrous or sometimes rugose and hairy
Seeds subglobose or oblong, shiny, sometimes red, with black base
x = 11 (aneuploids, polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
Abrus Adans
Adanson: 327 (1763)
Harvey: 262 (1862)
Breteler: 607 (1960)
Verdcourt: 235 (1970)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species 17, cosmopolitan in tropical and subtropical regions
Southern Africa: Species 2, Namibia, Botswana, Mpumalanga, Swaziland into KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape near Komga
References:
ADANSON, M. 1763. Familles des plantes 2. Vincent, Paris
BRETELER, F.J. 1960. Revision of Abrus Adanson (Pap.) with special reference to Africa. Blumea 10
HARVEY, W.H. 1862. Leguminosae. Flora capensis 2
VERDCOURT, B. 1970. Studies in the Leguminosae-Papilionoideae for the 'Flora of Tropical East Africa': II. Kew Bulletin 24
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Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
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