PROSOPIS

Prosopis L., Mant. Pl. 1:10.1767; Parker, For. Fl. Punj. ed. 1. 198. 1918 (Reprint 1973); Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org

Trees or shrubs, usually armed with prickles, axillary spines or spinescent stipules. Leaves bipinnate, rarely wanting, pinnate usually 1-2 pairs, leaflets few to many paired; stipules small, spinescent or absent. Flowers small, actinomorphic, bisexual, 5-merous, hypogynous, in cylindrical axillary spikes, rarely in heads. Calyx campanulate, teeth short. Petals connate below the middle or becoming free. Stamens 10, free, shortly exserted; anthers usually tipped with deciduous gland. Ovary sessile or stipitate, ovules many, placentation marginal; style filiform; stigma small, terminal. Pods linear, compressed or almost cylindric; straight, falcate, twisted or spirally wound, turgid, indehiscent; exocarp thin or coriaceous; mesocarp usually thick or spongy; endocarp cartilaginous or papery forming partitions between the seeds or surrounding each seed separately or rarely pod almost continuous within. Seeds usually ovoid, compressed

3 species

Prosopis cineraria

Prosopis cineraria (L.) Druce, Bot. Isles 3: 422. 1914; Burkhart, J. Arnold Arbor 57: 450. 1976; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org; Mimosa cineraria L. Sp. Pl. ed. 2, 2: 1500. 1763 (as “cineria”); Prosopis spicigera L. Mant. 68. 1767; Roxb., Pl. Cor. t. 63. 1796; Bedd., Fl. Sylv. t. 56. 1870; Cooke, Fl. Bombay 1: 439. 1903; Gamble, Fl. Madras 419. 1919; Parker, For. Fl. Punj. ed. 1. 198. 1918 (Reprint 1973).

A small or medium-sized evergreen tree, branches slender, glabrous, armed with short, nearly straight, somewhat compressed prickles; prickles on older branches with broad conical base. Leaves bipinnate; rachis 1.2-5 cm long; pinnae 1-2 pairs, 2.5-8 cm long, leaflets 6-12 pairs, more or less sessile, 8-12 mm x 2.5-4 mm, oblong, base rounded, oblique, 3-nerved, midrib near the upper edge, apex usually mucronate. Flowers nearly sessile, actinomorphic, bisexual, 5-merous, hypogynous, creamy-white, in slender pedunculate spikes, 5-12 cm long, axillary or arranged in terminal panicles, peduncles 0.5-2.5 cm long. Calyx 1-1.5 mm long, cup-shaped, truncate or obscurely 5-toothed. Petals 3-4 mm long, oblong, tip recurved. Stamens 10, free, shortly exserted; anthers small, tipped with deciduous glands. Monocarpellary, ovary sessile or stipitate, ovules many, placentation marginal; style filiform; stigma small, terminal. Legumes 12-25 cm x 5-7 mm, slender, pendulous, cylindric, turgid, torulose, narrowed into a short stalk; exocarp thinly coriaceous; mesocarp pulpy; endocarp papery. Seeds 10-15, oblong, compressed.

Flowering and Fruiting: December to May
Common Names: Jammi, Shami, Khejri Tree, Graf; Jand, Sangri, Kandi, Indian Mesquite, Janum-chettu