Black Nicker

Caesalpinia monensis Britton; Britton & Wilson, Sci. Surv
Porto Rico & Virgin Ids. 5: 377. 1924.
A branched shrub, about 2 m. high, the twigs rather copiously armed with paired straight stipular prickles 5-9 mm. long. Leaves unarmed; petioles only about 2 mm. long; pinnae a single pair; petiolules longer than the petioles; leaflets 1-3 pairs, 5-8 mm. long, elliptic to obovate-elliptic, chartaceous, glabrous, emarginate, pirmately few-veined; racemes terminal, 81 6-flowered ; pedicels secund, very slender, curved, 2-3 cm. long, jointed near the top, glabrous; flowers greenish yellow; calyx-tube broadly campanulate, 5 mm. long, the lower segment about 8 mm. long, and twice as long as the others; petals shorter than the calyxsegments; filaments pubescent, nearly twice as long as the lower calyx-segment.
Type locality: Mona Island.
Distribution: Known only from the type locality.

Perennial, Shrubs, Woody throughout, Stems or branches arching, spreading or decumbent, Stems 1-2 m tall, Trunk or stems armed with thorns, spines or prickles, Stems solid, Stems or young twigs glabrous or sparsely glabrate, Leaves alternate, Leaves petiolate, Stipules conspicuous, Stipules persistent, Stipules free, Stipules spinose or bristles, Leaves compound, Leaves even pinnate, Leaves bipinnate, Leaf or leaflet margins entire, Leaflets opposite, Leaflets alternate or subopposite, Leaflets 5-9, Leaflets 10-many, Leaves glabrous or nearly so, Inflorescences racemes, Inflorescence terminal, Bracts very small, absent or caducous, Flowers actinomorphic or somewhat irregular, Calyx 5-lobed, Calyx gibbous, inflated, or spurred, Calyx glabrous, Calyx lobes exceeding or about equal to corolla, Petals separate, Petals clawed, Petals greenish yellow, Banner petal ovoid or obovate, Banner petal suborbicular, broadly rounded, Wing petals narrow, oblan ceolate to oblong, Wing tips obtuse or rounded, Keel tips obtuse or rounded, not beaked, Stamens 9-10, Stamens completely free, separate, Filaments hairy, villous, Style terete, Fruit a legume, Fruit unilocular, Fruit freely dehiscent, Fruit elongate, straight, Fruit oblong or ellipsoidal, Fruit exserted from calyx, Fruit glabrous or glabrate, Fruit 3-10 seeded, Seeds ovoid to rounded in outline, Seed surface smooth, Seeds olive, brown, or black.