Adenanthera microsperma (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Adenanthera microsperma Teijsm. & Binnend.

Family: Leguminosae - Mimosoideae

Synonyms

• Adenanthera pavonina L. var. microsperma (Teijsm. & Binnend.) I.C. Nielsen.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: kenderi (general), beuj (Madurese), segawe, sigawe (Javanese), sagawe (Bali)
• Malaysia: sigawe
• Cambodia: chreh phnôm, mun trèi, phlëu ni:ëng
• Laos: lam¹ta khouay
• Thailand: bon see, phai (peninsular), maklam-takai (northern)
• Vietnam: lim váng, mang lai, ràng cam thảo, ràng ràng

Distribution

Occurring naturally in Burma (Myanmar), southern China, Indo-China, Thailand, the Andaman Islands, Peninsular Malaysia, and Indonesia (Java, Lesser Sunda Islands (Bali and Nusa Tenggara)). Also occasionally cultivated.

Uses

Shade tree for coffee and other tree crops (e.g. in Java) and ornamental.

Observations

• Tree up to 30 m tall, trunk up to 90 cm in diameter.
• Leaves pinnate; rachis 12-21 cm long, adaxially sulcate; pinnae 3-6 pairs, 6-11 cm long, puberulous; petiolules 1-2 mm long; leaflets 4-9 pairs per pinna, asymmetrically ovate-oblong to subtrapezoid, 1-3 cm × 0.5-2 cm.
• Inflorescence a raceme, 6.5-11.5(-25) cm long; pedicel 1.5-3 mm long.
• Flowers yellow, 5-merous, bisexual; calyx shallowly campanulate; petals oblong, 2.5-3.5 mm long; stamens 10, free, 3-4.5 mm long.
• Pod about 15 cm × 1 cm, brown, 6-10-seeded, spirally contorted before dehiscence.
• Seed suborbicular to ellipsoid or broadly obovoid, 5-8 mm × 4.5-7 mm × 4 mm, bright scarlet.

A. microsperma grows in dry evergreen and deciduous forest, and in forest margins, up to 600 m altitude. It flowers and fruits throughout the year.

Selected sources

• Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr., R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. 647, 641, 761 pp.
• Flora Malesiana (various editors), 1950-. Series 1. Volume 1, 4-. Kluwer, Dordrecht & Flora Malesiana Foundation, Leiden, the Netherlands.
• Flore du Cambodge, du Laos et du Viêt-nam [Flora of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam] (various editors), 1960-. Volume 1-. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Laboratoire de Phanérogamie, Paris, France.
• Smitinand, T., Larsen, K. & Hanssen, B. (Editors), 1970-. Flora of Thailand. Volume 2-. Danida, TISTR Press, Bangkok, Thailand.
• van Hall, C.J.J. & van de Koppel, C. (Editors), 1946-1950. De landbouw in den Indischen Archipel [Agriculture in the Indonesian Archipelago]. 4 volumes. Van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands. 423, 903, 784, 756 pp.
• Verdcourt, B., 1979. A manual of New Guinea legumes. Botany Bulletin No 11. Office of Forests, Division of Botany, Lae, Papua New Guinea. 645 pp.

Authors

• M.S.M. Sosef & L.J.G. van der Maesen