Fabaceae
Aeschynomene

Aeschynomene bella Harms

First published in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 30: 327 (1901)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Tanzania. It is a shrub and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

Leguminosae, J. B. Gillett, R. M. Polhill & B. Verdcourt. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1971

Morphology General Habit
Erect shrub, with numerous stems from the base, 1.8–3 m. tall.
Morphology Stem
Stems at first viscid pubescent with short dense markedly tubercular-based hairs.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves 24–38-foliolate; leaflets narrowly oblong or oblanceolate-oblong, 1–2.5 cm. long, 2.5–9.5 mm. wide, rounded or truncate and mucronulate at the apex, obliquely subcordate at the base, glabrous, entire; main nerve ± central; petiole and rhachis together 3–11 cm. long; petiolules ± 1 mm. long; stipules elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, 1.6–2 cm. long, 5–8 mm. wide, shortly acuminate, not appendaged, very soon falling, the scars giving the stem a jointed appearance.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescences viscid pubescent, axillary or running together at the apex and appearing paniculate, mostly racemose or sometimes with a slender side-branch near the base, 10–16-flowered; rhachis 6–13 cm. long; peduncle 2.5–4 cm. long; pedicels 0.8–1.2 cm. long; bracts ovate, scarious, 1–1.2 cm. long, 6–7.5 mm. wide, sometimes slightly 3-fid at the apex, ciliolate; bracteoles similar but smaller, 8–9 mm. long, 2.5–3.5 mm. wide.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Calyx glabrous or almost so, 2-lipped, the lips 1–1.2 cm. long, 3–5 mm. wide, one 2-fid, the other 3-fid.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Standard orange-yellow inside, grey-green with violet venation or entirely flushed reddish-vinaceous outside, rounded, 1.4 cm. long, 1.2–1.3 cm. wide, slightly emarginate; wings orange-yellow; keel pale yellow, flushed and veined with reddish-purple, much longer than the standard, ± 2 cm. long, not laciniate.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Pods 2.8–4.5 cm. long (including 8 mm. long stipe), of 3–4 articles joined by a narrow neck, each semicircular, 0.9–1.1 cm. long, 5–7.5 mm. wide, glabrous, reticulately veined.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds purplish-brown, reniform-semicircular, compressed, slightly beaked beyond the circular hilum, longest dimension 5.2 mm., shorter dimension 3.5 mm., 2 mm. thick.
Figures
Fig. 54/2, p. 366.
Habitat
Edges of upland rain-forest; 1500–2500 m.
Distribution
T7 T8 not known elsewhere
[FTEA]

International Legume Database and Information Service

Conservation
Insufficiently known
Ecology
Africa: Afromontane forest
Morphology General Habit
Perennial, Not climbing, Shrub
[ILDIS]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • International Legume Database and Information Service

    • International Legume Database and Information Service (ILDIS) V10.39 Nov 2011
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • World Checklist of Vascular plants (WCVP)

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0