3441.000 Pithecellobium Mart.

Trees or shrubs, armed with spinescent stipules or stipels. Leaves bipinnate, not sensitive to touch; rhachis and pinnae usually with extra-floral nectaries; Leaflets 1-several pairs per pinna. Inflorescence pedunculate glomerules or corymbs aggregated into terminal or axillary panicles. Flowers uniform, 5-merous; calyx campanulate or tubular, shortly dentate; corolla tubular or infundibuliform, tube longer than lobes; stamens numerous united into a tube at base. Fruit pods straight or spirally contorted, usually dark brown outside and reddish-orange inside, flat, dehiscing along both sutures. Seeds brown or blackish, obovoid or asymmetric, testa hard, funicle developed into an aril.

Worldwide: 18 species in North and South America, including the Caribbean.

Zimbabwe: 1 cultivated taxon.