bead tree (Irvine); red sandalwood (Irvine); peacock tree (Irvine); Circassian (bean) tree (Uphof, Quisumbing)., Burkill, H.M. 1985. The useful plants of west tropical Africa, Vol. 3
Flora
Entry for ADENANTHERA pavonina L. [family LEGUMINOSAE-MIMOSOIDEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of Tropical East Africa, page 1, (1959) Author: J. P. M. Brenan
Trees 4–20 m. high. Young branchlets usually glabrous. Leaves up to 40 cm. long; pinnae 3–5 pairs; leaflets 5–9 on each side of the pinna-rhachis, elliptic to ovate- or obovate-elliptic, 1.5–4.5 cm. long, 1.2–2.3 cm. wide, shortly petiolulate, rounded at apex, minutely puberulous especially beneath (use × 20 lens). Racemes 9–26 cm. long, glabrous or slightly puberulous; pedicels 2–3.5 cm. long. Flowers yellowish. Calyx 0.75–1 mm. long, usually glabrous. Petals 3–4.5 mm. long. Stamen-filaments 2.5–4 mm. long. Pods 18–22 cm. long, 1.3–1.7 cm. wide, brown outside, after dehiscence the valves reflexing spirally to show the satiny-yellow inner surface and the rather persistent, scarlet, elliptic-lenticular, glossy seeds which are 8–10 × 7–9 mm.
Range
DISTR. U4 (not indigenous) native of tropical Asia, but introduced into other parts of the tropics
Altitude range
1310 m.
Distribution
UGANDA Mengo District Mukono Hill, Dec. 1915, Dummer 2694!
Notes
This species, with attractive seeds, is cultivated in Uganda (Entebbe) and Tanganyika (Moshi, Amani, Dar es Salaam), and is said to be a quite common roadside tree in Zanzibar. It may well become naturalized more often than the evidence suggests.
