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The pale coloured and spongy wood is very light, with a density of 160–190 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content.
== Botany Description ==
Large shrub or small tree up to 9(–12) m tall; stems swollen, pithy, glandular hairy and with woody prickles up to 1.5 cm long, often with dense mats of adventitious roots; outer bark green, smooth. Leaves alternate, paripinnately compound with 9–20 pairs of leaflets; stipules broadly ovate, 10–13 mm long, auricled on one side; petiole and rachis together 4–16 cm long, densely bristly hairy and with short prickles; leaflets oblong, 8–26 mm × 4–10 mm, obliquely rounded at base, truncate or slightly notched at apex, glabrous above, shortly hairy below. Inflorescence an axillary raceme up to 4.5 cm long, 1–4-flowered; bracts ovate, up to 7 mm long, bracteoles broadly ovate, up to 16 mm long. Flowers bisexual, papilionaceous; pedicel 12–16 mm long; calyx glandular hairy, 2-lipped, the upper lobe 2–2.5 cm long and entire to slightly notched, the lower lobe 1.5–2 cm long and shallowly 3-toothed; corolla with rounded, notched, orange yellow standard up to 4.5 cm in diameter and yellow wings and keel; stamens 10, fused into a sheath split into 2 groups of 5; ovary superior, 1-celled, style slender, upturned. Fruit a spirally coiled pod 10–14 cm long when unrolled, glandular hairy, 6–17-jointed. Seeds kidney-shaped, up to 8 mm in diameter, dark purplish brown.
== Other botanical information ==
''Aeschynomene'' comprises about 150 species, tropical America and Africa being richest in species, with a few species in tropical Asia. Continental Africa has about 50 species, Madagascar 13. The stems and wood of some other ''Aeschynomene'' species is used for similar purposes as those of ''Aeschynomene elaphroxylon''.
=== ''Aeschynomene crassicaulis'' ===The stems of ''[[Aeschynomene crassicaulis]]'' Harms, a shrub with procumbent stems occurring from Senegal east to DR Congo, are used as floats for fishing nets and lines, and as fuel and fodder, whereas the leaves are added to a mixture of other plants to treat rheumatism.
=== ''Aeschynomene cristata'' ===The stems of ''[[Aeschynomene cristata]]'' Vatke, a shrub widespread in tropical Africa including Madagascar, are also used as floats for fishing nets and in raft and canoe construction, and parts of the plant are applied to skin complaints.
=== ''Aeschynomene pfundii'' ===''[[Aeschynomene pfundii]]'' Taub. closely resembles ''Aeschynomene elaphroxylon'', but is a smaller shrub without prickles. It occurs at watersides from Mali east to Kenya and south to Zambia. Its stems are used as floats for fishing nets.
''Aeschynomene elaphroxylon'' is adapted to fluctuating water levels. At the base of the bole unbranched roots up to 10 cm long are found as well as larger roots of unlimited length growth. The plants root superficially into the soil, and whole thickets are frequently displaced in the water by wind or currents. Numerous hemispherical protuberances are situated on the stem bark containing nitrogen-fixing bacteria of the genus ''Bradyrhizobium''. ''Aeschynomene elaphroxylon'' usually flowers at the beginning of the rainy season.
== Ecology ==
''Aeschynomene elaphroxylon'' occurs at lakesides and in pools and swamps, up to 1350 m altitude. The lower part of the stem is often submerged, and ''Aeschynomene elaphroxylon'' is well suited to seasonally flooded localities where the soil remains wet. The stems and branches may form dense floating masses that clog watercourses.
== Genetic resources ==
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[[Category:PROTA prov]][[Category:Timbers (PROTA)]]