Entada africana Guill. & Perr., Fl. Seneg. Tent.: 233. 1832.

O'Donnell, Shawn A., Ringelberg, Jens J. & Lewis, Gwilym P., 2022, Re-circumscription of the mimosoid genus Entada including new combinations for all species of the phylogenetically nested Elephantorrhiza (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae, mimosoid clade), PhytoKeys 205, pp. 99-145 : 99

Entada africana Guill. & Perr., Fl. Seneg. Tent.: 233. 1832.

= Entada ubanguiensis De Wild., Pl. Bequaert. 3: 88. 1925.

= Entada sudanica Schweinf., Reliq. Kotschy.: 8. 1968.

Types

(fide Brenan 1959: 12). SENEGAL. Tiélimane, Cayor, Leprieur (syntype: G; photo: K); GAMBIA. Albreda, G.S. Perrottet 290 (isosyntypes: BM [BM000842201], G; photo: K).

Description.

Shrub to small tree, 1.2-10 m tall, bark very rough (Fig. 7A ). Leaves: variable, rachis 5.3-30 cm long, tendrils absent; pinnae 2-10 pairs per leaf, each pinna 7.1-17 cm long, with 10-24 pairs of leaflets; leaflets 1-3.1 × 0.32-0.85 cm, linear-oblong to elliptic- or obovate-oblong, apex rounded, base obtuse to oblique, mid-rib sub-central above base, lamina glabrous to slightly puberulous. Inflorescence: a 6.5-15 cm long, spiciform raceme, either solitary or in groups of up to 4 inserted in a supra-axillary position, peduncle and rachis usually glabrous, rarely pubescent (Fig. 7B ). Flowers: yellow to white, sweetly scented, pedicels 1(-1.5) mm long; calyx 0.75-1.25 mm, shallowly toothed, glabrous; petals 1.5-4 × 0.6-1 mm (Fig. 7C ). Fruit: a torulose, laterally compressed, almost straight craspedium, 38 × 5-7.3 cm; with transverse septa between seeds dividing the fruit into one-seeded segments which, upon ripening, fall from the persistent replum; segments distinctly umbonate over seeds (Figs 2L , 7D ). Seeds: ovoid, 1.2 × 0.9-1 cm (Fig. 2N ).

Distribution.

Throughout tropical sub-Saharan Africa, north of the equator.

Habitat and ecology.

Savannah grasslands and woodland, often in association with Terminalia L., Combretum Loefl., Philenoptera laxiflora (Guill. & Perr.) Roberty and Pterocarpus lucens Lepr. ex Guill. & Perr. ( Lungu 1995, p. 35).

Figures

Figure 2. Genus-wide variation in morphological characters. A-D habit A large woody liana, E. rheedei (photo: B Wursten, Hyde et al. (2021)) B small tree, E. abyssinica (photo: G Baumann, Dressler et al. (2014 a)) C shrub, E. burkei (photo: M Schmidt, Dressler et al. (2014 a, b )) D geoxylic suffrutex, E. dolichorrhachis (photo: M Bingham, Bingham et al. (2021)) E, F leaves E bipinnate leaf with few pinnae, few large leaflets and ending in a bifurcating tendril, E. rheedei (photo: AP Balan, Balan and Predeep (2021)) F bipinnate leaf with many pinnae, many small leaflets and no tendril, E. rangei (photo: A Dreyer, Dressler et al. (2014 a)) G-I inflorescences G terminal panicle of up-turned spikes, E. polyphylla (photo: R Vasquez Martinez, CC BY-NC-SA 3.0, MBG (2021)) H axillary fascicles of spiciform racemes, E. goetzei (photo: G Baumann, Dressler et al. (2014 a)) I short spiciform raceme of dark red flowers, E. wahlbergii (photo: R Mangelsdorff, Dressler et al. (2014 a)) J-M fruits J immature, weakly falcate, segmented craspedium up to 2 m long, E. rheedei (photo: photographer unknown, Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research (CANBR), 2000) K immature, segmented, laxly spiralled craspedium up to 120 cm long, E. gigas (photo: R Aguilar CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, Aguilar (2021)) L ripe segmented craspedia breaking up into one-seeded segments with exfoliating epicarp, E. africana (photo: B Eichhorn, Dressler et al. (2014 a)) M ripe unsegmented craspedium, the entire valve breaking away from the persistent replum, E. burkei (photo: M Kriek CC BY-SA 4.0, Ueda (2021) observation 85675968) N, O seeds N one-seeded endocarp segment and small ovoid, flattened seed with elliptic pleurogram, E. africana (photo: B Eichhorn, Dressler et al. (2014 a)) O ripe one-seeded fruit segments with large circular, laterally compressed seeds lacking a pleurogram, E. gigas (photo: J Stevens, Dressler et al. (2014 a)). Scale bars: 1 cm (N, O).

Figure 7. Entada africana habit, vegetative and reproductive structures. A small tree, Burkina Faso (photo: A Gockele, Dressler et al. (2014 a)) B spiciform racemes both pre- and post-anthesis, Cote d'Ivoire (photo: S Porembski, Dressler et al. (2014 a)) C open, pedicellate flowers, Mali (photo: P Birnbaum, Dressler et al. (2014 a)) D mature fruits at varying ripeness, Burkina Faso (photo: Marco Schmidt, Dressler et al. (2014 a)).