Parkinsonia Plum. ex L., Sp. Pl. 375. 1753; Gen. Pl. ed. 5. 177. 1754; Baker in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 2: 260. 1879; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 10: 28; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org

Shrubs or trees, prickly or not. Leaves bipinnate with a short spine-tipped rachis; pinnae 2-6, long and flattened; rachis of pinnae very long and flattened, leaflets reduced, small and numerous, opposite or alternate; stipules small, scaly to spinescent. Racemes or cymes axillary; bracts caducous, small. Pedicels long, bracteoles absent. Flowers zygomorphic, bisexual, pentamerous, perigynous; receptacle discoid. Sepals 5, slightly unequal, membranous. Petals 5, spreading, slightly unequal, shortly clawed, uppermost broader and long clawed. Stamens 10, free, not exserted; filaments villous at base; anthers uniform, ovoid, bithecous, versatile, dehiscence by lateral slits. Monocarpellary, ovary shortly stalked, inserted at bottom of receptacle, unilocular, ovules many, placentation marginal; style filiform; stigma terminal; truncate, ciliate or glabrous. Fruits linear, torulose, finally dehiscing. Seeds oblong, hilum small, near the tip.

12 species

Parkinsonia aculeata L., Sp. Pl. 375. 1753; Baker in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 2: 260. 1879; Parker, For. Fl. Punj. ed. 1. 174. 1918 (Reprint 1973); ed. 3. 173. 1956; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 10: 49; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org; keralaplants.in

An evergreen shrub or small tree, up to 4 m tall, armed, bark thin, smooth, branches green, glabrous or glabrescent, armed. Leaves alternate, distant or crowded, bipinnate; rachis short and indurated ending into ca. 1 cm long spine, woody, often with a pair of stipular spines at its base, up to 5 mm long, sometimes stipular spines absent. Pinnae 2-4 (-6), 15-40 cm long, rachises winged, flattened, nearly 2-2.5 mm wide; leaflets 25-75 pairs, 2-4 mm x 1-2 mm, oblong-obovate or obovate, apex rounded, rarely truncate or emarginate; petiolules minute, 0.5 mm long. Flowers zygomorphic, bisexual, pentamerous, perigynous, 1.8-2.5 cm across, yellow, fragrant, in lax axillary 8-15 cm long racemes; pedicels 1-1.3 cm long, slender, spreading, jointed near the flower. Calyx 7-8 mm long, cleft nearly to base, calyx tube short, lobes 5, ca. 6 mm x 2 mm, unequal, oblong, obtuse, deciduous. Petals 5, yellow, 2.3-1.8 cm x ca. 10 mm, broadly obovate or suborbicular, veined, with short, stout, villous claws, uppermost petal broader, with long claw and red spots. Stamens 10, free; filaments unequal, flattened, villous at base; anthers uniform, ovoid, bithecous, versatile, dehiscence by lateral slits. Ovary shortly stipitate, silky-villous, unilocular, ovules many; style filiform, glabrous; stigma minute, terminal. Legumes 7-12 cm x 6-10 mm, moniliform, flattened between seeds, slender, attenuated at both ends, thin, longitudinally veined, glabrous, 1-6 seeded. Seeds ca. 9 mm x 4 mm, oblong, nearly terete, smooth, mottled light and dark brown.

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