Parkinsonia aculeata
Content
Description
Shrub or small tree, 3-4 m tall; young shoots zigzag, glabrous, stiff thorns up 3 cm long.
Stipules 2, forming short spines.
Inflorescences up to 20 cm long; pedicels up to 10( — 15) mm, articulated below the glabrous flower.
Petals very thin, golden yellow, spoon-shaped with the limb suborbicular or broadly ovate (c. 7 mm wide) and the claw hairy, 12-14 mm long.
Stamens shorter than the petals; filaments hairy in the lower half, widened towards the base; anthers ellipsoid, dehiscing longitudinally.
Ovary subsessile, hairy; style glabrous; stigma obscure.
Seeds oblong, c. 10 by 4 mm, slightly compressed.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical, tropical America
Native of tropical America. Widely cultivated all over the tropics, commonly known as 'Jerusalem Thorn'. In Malesia cultivated and occasionally naturalized.
Citation
Backer & Bakh.f 1964 – In: Fl. Java: 542
K. & S.S. Larsen 1984 – In: Fl. Thailand: 49
H.C.Cheng 1988: p. 117. – In: Fl. Reipubl. Popul. Sin.: t. 39
Miq. 1850: Anal. Bot. Ind.: 9
Gunn 1991: p. 114. – In: Techn. Bull. U.S.D.A.: f. A, L-M.
K. & S.S. Larsen 1980 – In: Fl. Camb., Laos & Vietnam: 67
Koord. & Valeton 1894 – In: Bijdr. Booms. Java: 271
Miq. 1855 – In: Fl. Ind. Bat.: 115