海红豆属 hai hong dou shu

Trees, unarmed. Leaves bipinnate, spirally arranged, without glands; stipules caducous, small; leaflets alternate, in many pairs, small. Inflorescence a raceme or panicle, axillary or terminal. Flowers white or yellowish, bisexual or polygamous, shortly pedicel­late. Calyx campanulate, shortly 5-toothed. Petals 5, lanceolate, coherent below middle or soon free. Stamens 10, free, slightly longer than petals; anthers ovoid, with a deciduous gland at apex. Ovary sessile, many ovuled; style filiform. Legume straight, falcate, or slightly twisted, strap-shaped, leathery, septate between seeds, dehiscent along sutures when ripe. Seeds thick; testa scarlet or 2-colored, hard, with pleurogram, mostly enclosed by a thin pulp.

Twelve species: tropical Asia and the Pacific islands; one species in China.

Lower Taxon

• Adenanthera microsperma Teijsmann & Binnendijk