Enterolobium

Trees, unarmed. Stems ascending, glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Leaves alternate, even-bipinnate; stipules present, caducous, inconspicuous; rachis glandular mostly distally; petiolate; pinnae 4–10(–15) pairs, opposite; leaflets (24–)30–60, opposite, blade margins entire, surfaces glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Inflorescences ca. 50-flowered, axillary, heads [racemes, fascicles, or flowers solitary]; bracts present. Flowers mimosoid; calyx valvate, campanulate to funnelform, lobes 5; corolla white or cream, lobes 5, valvate, lobes and tube subequal; stamens [10–] ca. 80, connate proximally into short staminal tube; anthers dorsifixed; style slender. Fruits legumes, sessile, compressed, deeply reniform [or circinate], forming a nearly complete spiral, constricted between seeds, indehiscent, woody, glabrous. Seeds (5–)8–9(–14), ellipsoid, transverse, on filiform funicle. x = 13.

Distribution

Introduced; Florida, West Indies, Central America, South America, introduced also in Africa.

Discussion

Species 11 (1 in the flora).

Enterolobium cyclocarpum (Jacquin) Grisebach and E. contortisiliquum are cultivated in temperate and tropical areas of the Old World and New World and sometimes naturalized; only the latter is naturalized in North America. The species can easily be distinguished by their fruits; reniform, plump, blackish, dull, and glaucous in E. contortisiliquum; curved to form a complete circle, flattened, dark brown, and lustrous in E. cyclocarpum. The wood of E. cyclocarpum is used commercially; the pods are fed to livestock; the gum is a substitute for gum arabic; the bark and fruits are used for tanning and in soap; and the bark is used medicinally.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

Enterolobium contortisiliquum