Ornamental Garden Plants of the Guianas Pt. 2
Surinam (Pulle, 1906). 8. Gliricidia Kunth & Endlicher Unarmed, deciduous trees and shrubs. Leaves alternate, petiolate, odd-pinnate, 1- pinnate. Inflorescence an axillary, many-flowered raceme. Flowers papilionaceous; sepals united in a cupuliform, weakly 5-toothed tube; standard petal reflexed; keel incurved, the petals united. Stamens 10; 9 united by the filaments in a tube, 1 free. Fruit dehiscent, flat, narrow; seeds numerous. 1. Gliricidia sepium (Jacquin) Kunth ex Grisebach, Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften, Gottingen 7: 52 (1857). MADRE DE CACAO (Surinam); ACACIA DES ANTILLES (French Guiana). Tree to 9 m; branches hairy when young; poisonous. Leaves with 4-8 pairs of leaflets; leaflets elliptical, acuminate, often dark-spotted or -blotched beneath, to 7 x 3 (-4) cm. Inflorescence to 15 cm. Petals pale purplish-pink, c.1.2 cm; standard petal marked with yellow from middle to base. Fruit narrowly oblong, somewhat woody, to 15 x 1.2 cm; seeds up to 11 per fruit. Range: Mexico to South America. Grown as an ornamental in the Botanic Gardens, Georgetown, Guyana (Index Seminum, 1982) and in French Guiana (de Granville, 1985). Grown as a shade tree in Surinam (Ostendorf, 1962). In tropical America this species is often interplanted with coffee and cacao trees to shade them; it is recommended for intensified utilization as a fuelwood for the humid tropics (National Academy of Sciences, 1980; Little, 1983). 9. Pterocarpus Jacquin Unarmed, nearly evergreen trees, sometimes lianas. Leaves alternate, petiolate, odd- pinnate, 1-pinnate; leaflets alternate. Inflorescence an axillary or terminal panicle or raceme. Flowers papilionaceous; sepals united in an unequally 5-toothed tube; standard and wing petals crisped (wavy); keel petals free or nearly so.
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