Flora of Dominica, Part 2 - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

NUMBER 77 FABACEAE 101
Dalbergia Linnaeus f., nom. cons. (Faboid)
Dalbergia ecastaphyllum
Dolbergka ecasiaphyllwn (Linnaeus) Taubert in Engler & Prantl, 1894,
III(3):335.
Hedysorum ecariophyllum Linnaeus, 1759a:1169.
Heavy scrambling shrub with simple leaves (very rarely
leaflets, 5 on same plant and alternate); flowers white; stamens,
by my dissections, diadelphous (5+5), opening by a terminal
slit; pod 1-seeded, leathery, orbicular, flat, indehiscent.
Neotropics and west Africa; common in littoral woodlands
of Dominica: Cabrits Swamp (Hodge 606,607,3729, Nicolson
1881, Whitefoord 4068, Wilbur 8260). Castle Bruce (Ernst
1467, Wilbur 7985), Castaways Hotel (Stern & Wasshausen
2431), Hatton Garden (Hodge 2959), L’Anse Noire (Wilbur
7514), L a Plaine (Ernst 1922), Melville Hall Airport (Gillis
8208), Rosalie (Chambers 2721).
This species was reported for Dominica from an Imray
collection under the misidentification “Hecastophyllum
brownei Pers.” by Grisebach (1860:202). V6lez (1957:lOO)
also cited this species under another misidentification, “Dalbergia
monetaria Lf.”
Similar Machaerium lunatum (Linnaeus f.) Ducke grows in
similar habitats and could be found in Dominica. It would key
here but the stems are armed with stipular spines and the fruit
is curved.
Delonix Rafinesque (Caesalpinoid)
Delonix regia
Delonix regio (W. Hooker) Rafiiesque, 1837, Fi. Tellur., 292.
Poinciono regio Bojer ex W. Hooker, 1829a.
Flamboyant, flame tree, royal poinciana.
Trees with -15 pairs of pinnae, each with -20 pairs of
leaflets; flowers showy, scarlet, -5 cm across; stamens 10; fruit
pendant, woody, sword-like, -60 cm x 6 cm.
Madagascar but widely introduced in tropics; cultivated and
apparently naturalizing in dry areas of west coast on Dominica:
slopes above Mero and Salisbury (Erst 1422A), Roseau
Botanic Gardens (Hodge 932), Hatton Gardens (Hodge 3299).
Flowering May-July.
Desmanthus Willdenow, nom. cons. (Mimosoid)
Desmanthus virgatus
Desmnihus vugoius (Linnaeus) Willdenow, 1806,4(2):1047.
Mimoso virgoio Linnaeus, 1753519.
Herbaceous shrub to 1.5 m; leaves with 2-4 pairs of pinnae
(with a conspicuous petiolar gland just below the first pinnae),
leaflets -10 pairs; flowers white; stamens 10, about twice as
long as petals, filaments free, anthers lacking an apical gland;
pods clustered, narrowly linear, valves not separating from
sutures; seeds lengthwise or very oblique to sutures.
Neotropics but spread in Old World; locally common in dry
slopes, woodlands, and roadsides of Dominica: East Cabrit
(Hodge 3713), Coulibistrie (Wilbur 8336), Dublanc (Whitefood
4274), Grand Bay (Wilbur 7901), Cocoa Center ridges
(Ernst 1533).
We do not Seem to have the smaller, prostrate element, D.
virgatus var. depressus (Willdenow) B.L. ”her, which may
be an ecological form.
Desmodium Desvaux, nom. cons. (Faboid)
Suffrutescent herbs with 3-foliolate stipellate leaves and a
jointed pod (loment) with flat joints (segments).
1. Flowers 1-4, axillary (or leaf-opposed); leaflets c1 cm
long. ..................... D. trifZorum
1. Flowers many, in terminal or axillary racemes or panicles;
leaflets >1 cm long.
2. Fruit unequally notched at joints (upper margin almost
straight).
3. Fruit typically 4-more-segmented ... D. incanum
3. Fruit typically l-3-segmented.
4. Plants tap-rooted, leaflet apices rounded to emargi-
~te; stipules persistent, free ... D. adscendens
4. Plants rooting at nodes; leaflet apices acute to
obtuse; stipules deciduous, united at first
..................... D. axillare
2. Fruits equally notched at joints.
5. Fruit segments about 2x longer than broad
..................... D. scorpiurus
5. Fruit segments about as long as broad.
6. Stem procumbent; stipules subulate; leaflets usually
with midrib area distinctly paler above ....
................... D. procumbens
6. Stem erect; stipules semicordate, broadly lanceolate;
leaflets uniformly green .... D. tortuosum
Desmodium adscendens
Desmodiwn adreendem (Swartz) A.P. Candolle, 1825,2:332.
Hedysorwn adscendem Swam, 1788:lM.
Sweetheart.
Taprooted, diffuse or ascending herb; stipules free, linear,
persistent; leaflets rounded, the terminal petiolule longest;
upper margin or loment straight, segments 4 or fewer, on a
short pedicel.
Neotropics, Asia, and Africa; common weed in disturbed
areas of Dominica: Atkinson (Hodge 2471,3384), Grand Bay
road (Erst 1625), La Chaudiere (Hodge 3550,3686), Laudat
(Hodge 1852, 1872), L’Imprevue (Hodge 1286), Lisdara
(Hodge 625, 630, 2471), Portsmouth swamp (Hodge 629),