Mysorethorn

It is cultivated as an ornamental or hedge plant. The bark is said to be useful for tanning in S. India. The root is purgative. It is also stated that the lac insect feeds on this species.

A scandent or scrambling shrub, branches hairy with hooked or straight prickles. Leaves 11-37.5 cm long, stipule semisagittate, caducous, 1.2-1.3 cm long, rachis armed with recurved prickles at the base of the pinnae, pinnae 5-10 pairs, opposite, 5-10 cm long, leaflets 8-12 pairs, opposite, 1.5-2 cm long, 5-10 mm wide, oblong, obtuse at both the ends, glabrous above, slightly hairy below, petiolule minute, stipels absent. Inflorescence terminal or axillary raceme, 30-40 cm long. Flowers yellow, 1.2-1.8 cm long, pedicel 1.2-3 cm long, hairy, jointed near the flower, bract 5 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, tomentose, caducous. Calyx 1-1.3 cm long. Petals suborbicular, bigger c. 13-14 mm long, smaller c. 11 mm long. Fila¬ments woolly in the lower half. Pods 6.2-12.5 cm long 1.7-2.8 cm wide, beaked, narrowly winged along the ventral suture, more or less woody and turgid, dehiscent late; seeds 4-8.

Himalaya, India, Ceylon, S.E. Asia, Malaysia, China, Japan(var. japonica); cultivated in Africa, America.

Distribution: W. Pakistan, Punjab; India, widely distributed; Ceylon; Malay isles; China; Japan; widely cultivated and naturalized in Africa also.

1000-2200 m

Fl. Per.: March-April.

decapetala: with 10 petals (actually 5 in this sp.)

Climbing or straggling shrub. Stems and (2-pinnate) leaves armed with prickles. Petals 10-15 mm, pale yellow. Pod beaked, dehiscent along upper suture, oblong-elliptic, straight or slightly curved, flattened, pubescent.

Occasional

Native of India and Sri Lanka

Biancaea sepiaria (Roxb.) Todaro, Hort. Bot. Panorm. 4. 1876
Caesalpinia sepiaria Roxb. Hort. Beng. 32. 1814. Biancaea scandens Todaro. Nuovi Gen. 22. 1860.
A much-branched, very prickly, vine-like shrub 3 m. high, or less, the young twigs and foliage puberulent. Petiole stout, tapering into the rachis, which is very slender above; stipules half-sagittate, early deciduous; leaves 1-5 dm. long; pinnae 4-10 pairs, short-stalked; leaflets 7-12 pairs, thin, oblong, rather dark green above, pale green beneath, 8-20 mm. long, rounded or refuse at the apex, obtuse at the base, very short-stalked; racemes axillary and terminal, puberulent, usually many-flowered; flowers deflexed at anthesis; pedicels 1.5-3 cm. long; calyx about 1.5 cm. long, puberulent; petals suborbicular, about 1.5 cm. broad; filaments about as long as the petals; filaments densely woolly below; legume oblong, compressed, glabrous, unarmed, 5-8 cm. long, 2-2.5 cm. wide, abruptly long-beaked, 6-8-seeded; seeds oblong-ovoid, black and variegated, nearly 1 cm. long, 5-6 mm. thick.
Type locality: Bengal, India.
Distribution: Jamaica; Cuba to Grenada. Native of the East Indies.

Perennial, Trees, Shrubs, Vines, twining, climbing, Woody throughout, Stems or branches arching, spreading or decumbent, Stems greater than 2 m tall, Trunk or stems armed with thorns, spines or prickles, Stems solid, Stems or young twigs sparsely to densely hairy, Stems with hooked uncinate hairs or prickles, Leaves alternate, Leaves petiolate, Stipules conspicuous, Stipules green, triangulate to lanceolate or foliaceous, Stipules deciduous, Stipules free, Stipules spinose or bristles, Stipules cordate, lobed, or sagittate, Leaves compound, Leaves even pinnate, Leaves bipinnate, Leaf or leaflet margins entire, Leaflets opposite, Leaflets alternate or subopposite, Leaflets 10-many, Leaves glabrous or nearly so, Inflorescences racemes, Inflorescence axillary, Inflorescence terminal, Bracts conspicuously present, Flowers actinomorphic or somewhat irregular, Calyx 5-lobed, Calyx glabrous, Petals separate, Petals clawed, Petals orange or yellow, Banner petal ovoid or obovate, Banner petal suborbicular, broadly rounded, Wing petals narrow, oblanceolate to oblong, Wing tips obtuse or rounded, Keel tips obtuse or rounded, not beaked, Stamens 9-10, Stamens completely free, separate, Stamens long exserted, Filaments glabrous, Style terete, Fruit a legume, Fruit unilocular, Fruit freely dehiscent, Fruit oblong or ellipsoidal, Fruit exserted from calyx, Fruit beaked, Fruit hairy, Fruit 2-seeded, Fruit 3-10 seeded, Seeds ovoid to rounded in outline, Seed surface smooth, Seeds olive, brown, or black.