3601.000 Castanospermum A. Cunn. ex Hook.

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.

Description of the genus

Evergreen tree to 30 m tall. Leaves large, usually imparipinnate (terminal leaf may be absent) with 7-19 elliptic-oblong alternate 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. Stamens protruding well beyond the petals. Pods woody, splitting open to release 1-5 globose, black seeds. Seeds are poisonous when raw but edible when cooked.

Derivation of name: from the Latin castanea, a chestnut and spermum, a seed, alluding to the similarity of the seeds to those of the Sweet chestnut, Castanea sativa.

Worldwide: Genus of one species only, native to Australia, Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

Zimbabwe: 1 cultivated taxon.

Castanospermum australe

Links to cultivated taxa    View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesContent
australe A. Cunn.Description, Image

Other sources of information about Castanospermum:

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Castanospermum
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Castanospermum
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Castanospermum
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Castanospermum
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Castanospermum
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Castanospermum
JSTOR Plant Science: Castanospermum
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Castanospermum
Plants of the World Online: Castanospermum
Tropicos: Castanospermum
Wikipedia: Castanospermum

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2002-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Zimbabwe: Cultivated plants: genus page: Castanospermum.
https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/cult/genus.php?genus_id=1794, retrieved 29 March 2024

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