Barry Conn (NSW) & Kipiro Damas (LAE).
Guide to trees of Papua New Guinea
Copyright held by the authors, National Herbarium of New South Wales, and Papua New Guinea National Herbarium

Adenanthera pavonina L.

Species Plantarum 384 (1753)

Other Literature: B. Verdcourt, A Manual of New Guinea Legumes 138-139 (1979) Fig. 34.

Family: Fabaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 30 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree; Bole cylindrical (up to c. 90 cm diam.); straight (bole 17-20 m long); buttresses buttresses present or buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark red, grey, or brown, slightly rough or smooth, scaly or flaky, slightly peeling, or pustular, lenticels elongated vertically; Subrhytidome (under-bark) yellow or pale green; less than 25 mm thick, 6.0-15.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic; pleasant; outer blaze pale yellow or pale brown, with stripes, fibrous; inner blaze pale orange or pale brown, with stripes, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) absent; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) absent.

Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, spiral (leaves occurring singly at a node and arranged spirally up the branchlet), compound (a leaf made up from two or more leaflets); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves bipinnate (with the rachis branched once); petiolule not swollen; rachis present, absent, absent; leaves without a terminal leaflet (the number of leaflets even - paripinnate), rarely broadest above middle, broadest at or near middle, or broadest below middle, 1.5-4.5 cm, 1.2-2.3 cm, leaflets alternate, symmetric; venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface dull pale green, upper surface dull green, indumentum (hairs) present, indumentum (hairs) dense to sparse; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on an unbranched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 3.0-4.5 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white to yellow; 5, some or partly joined; stamens 10, present, at base joined, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 1; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis, fruit 180.0-220.0 mm long, brown, not spiny, non-fleshy or slightly fleshy, simple, dehiscent, legume; seeds 8-10, about 10 mm long (c. 10 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam. (flattened, c. 8 mm wide).

Distribution: Morobe, Western, Northern, New Britain & Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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Notes: Notes This species is classified in Fabaceae subfamily Mimosoideae.