Chamaecrista biensis (PROTA)

Plant Resources of Tropical Africa Introduction

List of species

General importance
Geographic coverage Africa
Geographic coverage World
Medicinal
Forage / feed

Chamaecrista biensis (Steyart) Lock

Protologue: Kew Bull. 43: 335 (1990).

Family: Caesalpiniaceae (Leguminosae - Caesalpinioideae)

Chromosome number:

Synonyms

• Cassia biensis (Steyaert) Mendonça & Torre (1955).

Origin and geographic distribution

Chamaecrista biensis is widely distributed throughout southern Africa from Angola, Botswana and Mozambique to South Africa.

Uses

In Namibia the raw or boiled root of Chamaecrista biensis is eaten to cure stomach disorders. It is also eaten as a staple food. It is further used to bring luck; when a piece of root is chewed, undertakings such as hunting and hitchhiking are believed to become successful. The foliage is browsed by livestock.

Properties

The foliage of Chamaecrista biensis has been tested for palatability, toxicity and feeding value in tests with rats. The results showed no differences from lucerne (Medicago sativa L.). The seeds showed a low palatability and feeding value, but no toxicity.

Description

Perennial herb up to 45 cm tall with woody rootstock and prostrate or decumbent stems, occasionally more or less erect; branches hairy. Leaves alternate, paripinnately compound with usually 13–24 pairs of leaflets; stipules lanceolate; petiole with a stalked or almost sessile gland, rachis channelled; leaflets sessile, obliquely linear, asymmetrical, up to 10 mm × 2 mm, apex rounded, apiculate. Inflorescence an extra-axillary raceme, usually 1-flowered. Flowers bisexual, nearly regular, 5-merous; pedicel up to 20 mm long; sepals acute, slightly shorter then petals; petals obovate, 4–7 mm long, yellow; stamens 10; ovary superior, 1-celled. Fruit an erect compressed pod 3–4.5 cm × c. 4 mm, glabrous to shortly hairy. Seeds rhombic-ellipsoid, c. 3 mm long, pale brown with dark brown spots.

Other botanical information

Chamaecrista occurs throughout the tropics and subtropics and comprises about 250 species. It has its largest diversity in tropical Africa and tropical America. In continental Africa about 40 species occur, in Madagascar 10, 6 of them endemic.

Chamaecrista biensis forms N-fixing root nodules.

Ecology

Chamaecrista biensis is widely distributed in savanna on deep sandy and loamy soils. It is most common in disturbed areas such as ploughed land and grazed areas. It is tolerant of low rainfall.

Genetic resources

Chamaecrista biensis is considered not threatened. Germplasm collections are preserved at the Institute of Crops and Pastures and the Grassland Research Centre in Pretoria, South Africa, at the Australian Tropical Crops & Forages Genetic Resources Centre, Biloela, Australia and at ICRAF, Nairobi, Kenya.

Prospects

The potential of Chamaecrista biensis as a pasture plant is high as far as nutritive properties are concerned, but few results seem to have been published on its productivity. Its tolerance of low rainfall and its nitrogen fixing ability have raised interest for use in intercropping and as a green manure. The medicinal properties have not been investigated.

Major references

• Leger, S., 1997. The hidden gifts of nature: A description of today’s use of plants in West Bushmanland (Namibia). [Internet] DED, German Development Service, Windhoek, Namibia & Berlin, Germany. http://www.sigridleger.de/book/. March 2006.

• Lock, J.M., 1990. Cassia sens.lat. (Leguminosae - Caesalpinioideae) in Africa. Kew Bulletin 43(2): 333–342.

• von Koenen, E., 2001. Medicinal, poisonous and edible plants in Namibia. Klaus Hess Verlag, Göttingen, Germany. 336 pp.

Other references

• Corby, H.D.L., 1974. Systematic implications of nodulation among Rhodesian legumes. Kirkia 9(2): 301–329.

• Laden, G. & Wrangham, R., 2005. The rise of the hominids as an adaptive shift in fallback foods: plant underground storage organs (USOs) and australopith origins. Journal of Human Evolution 49: 482–498.

• Mphinyane, W.N., 2001. Influence of livestock grazing within biospheres under free range and controlled conditions in Botswana. PhD thesis, University of Pretoria, South Africa. [Internet] http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-09042001-102434/. July 2006.

• Naisbitt, T., James, E.K. & Sprent, J.I., 1992. The evolutionary significance of the legume genus Chamaecrista, as determined by nodule structure. New Phytologist 122(3): 487–492.

• Ross, J.H., 1977. Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae. In: Ross, J.H. (Editor). Flora of southern Africa. Volume 16, part 2. Botanical Research Institute, Department of Agricultural Technical Services, Pretoria, South Africa. 142 pp.

• Strickland, R.W., Lambourne, L.J. & Ratcliff, D., 1987., 1987. A rat bioassay for screening tropical legume forages and seeds for palatability and toxicity. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 27: 45–53.

• Torre, A.R. & Hillcoat, D., 1956. Caesalpinioideae. In: Exell, A.W. & Mendonça, F.A. (Editors). Conspectus Florae Angolensis 2(2). Ministerio do Ultramar, Lisbon, Portugal. pp. 162–253.

Author(s)

• C.H. Bosch, PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands

Correct citation of this article

Bosch, C.H., 2007. Chamaecrista biensis (Steyaert) Lock. In: Schmelzer, G.H. & Gurib-Fakim, A. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. Accessed 6 March 2025.

• See the Prota4U database.