Compilation
Smithia aeschynomenoides

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Name

Identification
Isotype of Smithia aeschynomenoides Welw. ex Baker [family LEGUMINOSAE ] Kotschya aeschynomenoides (Welw. ex Baker) Dewit & P.A.Duvign. [family LEGUMINOSAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Torre,A.,
Related name
  • Smithia aeschynomenoides
  • Kotschya aeschynomenoides
  • Smithia unrecorded

Flora

Entry for Kotschya aeschynomenoides Welw. ex Baker Dewit & P.A. Duvign. [family LEGUMINOSAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Zambesiaca
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
FZ, Vol 3, Part 6, (2000) Author: B. Verdcourt
Names
Smithia volkensii Taub. [family LEGUMINOSAE], in Engler, Pflanzenw. Ost-Afrikas C: 215 (1895). —E.G. Baker, Legum. Trop. Africa: 305 (1929). —Brenan, Check-list For. Trees Shrubs Tang. Terr.: 442 (1949). Type from Tanzania.
Smithia sphaerocephala Baker [family LEGUMINOSAE], in Bull. Misc. Inform., Kew 1897: 260 (1897). —E.G. Baker, Legum. Trop. Africa: 305 (1929). Type: Malawi, Khondowe (Kondowe) to Karonga, Whyte (K, holotype).
Smithia ruwenzoriensis Baker f. [family LEGUMINOSAE], in J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 38: 246 (1908); Legum. Trop. Africa: 306 (1929). Type from Uganda.
Smithia mildbraedii Harms [family LEGUMINOSAE], in Mildbraed, Wiss. Ergebn. Deutsch. Zentr.-Afrika Exped., Bot. 2: 260 (1911). —E.G. Baker, Legum. Trop. Africa: 308 (1929). Type from Rwanda.
Kotschya aeschynomenoides Welw. ex Baker Dewit & P.A. Duvign. [family LEGUMINOSAE], in Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belgique 86: 213 (1954); in F.C.B. 5: 338, fig. 2 (1954). —Hepper in F.W.T.A., ed. 2, 1: 581 (1958). —White, F.F.N.R.: 157 (1962). —Torre in C.F.A. 3: 206 (1966). —Verdcourt in Kew Bull. 24: 39 (1970); in F.T.E.A., Leguminosae, Pap.: 421 (1971); in Kirkia 9: 463 (1974). —Lock, Leg. Afr. Check-list: 115 (1989). Syntypes from Angola.
Smithia aeschynomenoides Welw. ex Baker [family LEGUMINOSAE], in F.T.A. 2: 153 (1871). —Harms in Engler, Pflanzenw. Afrikas [Veg. Erde 9] 3 (1): 616 (1915). —E.G. Baker, Legum. Trop. Africa: 306 (1929). —Hutchinson, Botanist South. Africa: 532 (1946). —Brenan, Check-list For. Trees Shrubs Tang. Terr.: 441 (1949).
Damapana aeschynomenoides Welw. ex Baker Kuntze [family LEGUMINOSAE], Revis. Revis. Gen. Pl. 1: 179 (1891). —Hiern, Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. 1: 237 (1896).
Information
Erect, rarely decumbent, aromatic shrub (0.15)0.5–3 m tall. Stems sticky and glandular, densely covered with bristly tubercular-based hairs. Leaves (12)16–34-foliolate; leaflets 2–14(17) × 1–3.5 mm, oblong to oblong-lanceolate, obtuse and mucronulate at the apex, oblique at the base, glabrous save for sparse glandular hairs on the main nerve beneath; basal nerves 2–3, the main one submarginal; petiole and rhachis together 1.3–7.5 cm long; petiolules 0.5 mm long; stipules 4–7 × 1–3 mm, lanceolate, acute, scarious, glandular-ciliate, ± deciduous. Inflorescences axillary, often curved, dense, strobilate; peduncle 5–15 mm long; rhachis 1–7 cm long; pedicels 5–7 mm long; bracts free, 2–6 × 1–3 mm, falcate-lanceolate or ovate, acute, asymmetric at the base, pubescent; bracteoles free, 2–6(7) × 0.7–2 mm, elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, pubescent. Calyx pubescent, 4–8 mm long, 2-lipped; lips elliptic or oblong, the upper deeply emarginate, the lower deeply divided into 3 rounded or acute ovate lobes. Standard white, pale lilac or bluish-violet, often veined mauve, 8–12 × 4–9 mm, rounded, emarginate, glabrous save for a few hairs on the central nerve; claw conspicuous, wings white; keel white or bluish-violet. Fruit of 1–2 articles; articles 2–2.5 mm long and wide, semicircular, glabrous. Seeds dark brown, 2 × 1.7 × 1.2 mm, oblong-rounded.
Habitat
Brachystegia woodland, evergreen forest margins, wet places such as seasonal streams, river banks, marshes, swamps, dambos, boggy drainage channels on granite outcrops, etc.
Altitude range
1200–2280 m.
2280
1200
Distribution
Zambia E Nyika Plateau, fl. 7.vi.1962, Verboom 628 (K).Zambia C 51.2 km NE of Serenje Corner, fl. 25.vii.1930, Hutchinson & Gillett 4076 (BM; K).Zambia W Ndola, fl. 29.v.1953, Fanshawe 49 (EA; K).Zambia N Mbala Distr., Lumi River marsh close to Kawimbi Mission, fl. 20.v.1955, Richards 5775 (K; SRGH).Malawi N Nyika Plateau, fl. vii.1953, Chapman 119 (FHO; K).
Distribution (external)
Sudan
Dem. Rep. Congo
Rwanda
Uganda
Kenya
Tanzania
Angola
Notes
It must be admitted that as treated above this is a very variable species. The main variation is to be found in the length of the bracts, bracteoles, calyx and standard. Typical K. aeschynomenoides has short elliptic bracteoles 3 mm long, the standard 8–9 mm long and the calyx c. 5 mm long. Smithia sphaerocephala and S. ruwenzoriensis represent large-flowered variants, the former having bracteoles 3.5 mm long and the latter 4.5 mm long; in both the standard is 11–12 mm long. S. volkensii applies to the variant having longer lanceolate bracteoles, 5–6(7) mm long, and small standard, 7.5–8 mm long. Between these variants it is possible to find specimens with other combinations of characters and a division into subspecies with a good geographical or ecological basis is not obvious. S. mildbraedii is included in the above synonymy purely from the description – the leaflets are said to be up to 20-jugate; the petals were not described. It was not dealt with in the F.C.B. account.

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