Home | > | List of cultivated families | > | Fabaceae subfamily Papilionoideae | > | Castanospermum |
Staples, G.W. & Herbst, D.R. (2005) A Tropical Garden Flora; plants cultivated in the Hawaiian islands and other tropical places. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu, Hawaii.
An evergreen tree up to 30 m tall. Leaves usually odd-pinnately compound (terminal leaf may be absent) with 10-15 elliptic-oblong leaflets. Inflorescences comprising racemes which are produced on woody bosses along the trunk and main branches and bearing long, waxy, pea-type flowers that open vivid yellow with green tinges and age to orange-red with stamens that protrude well beyond the petals. Fruit are woody pods that split open releasing 1-5 globose, black seeds. Seeds poisonous when raw but edible when cooked. Worldwide: Genus of one species only, native to Australia, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Zimbabwe: 1 cultivated taxon. |
No image yet |
Species | Content |
australe A. Cunn. | Image |
Home | > | List of cultivated families | > | Fabaceae subfamily Papilionoideae | > | Castanospermum |