Leguminosae 

Common names:

Description

A vigorous, large liane, the stems attaining 12-30 m in length. Leaflets rhomboid, ovate or obovate, the laterals very asymmetrical, 10-19 cm long, 6-15.5 cm wide, apiculate or rounded at the apex, rounded to subcordate at the base, sparsely adpressed pubescent above, densely adpressed silvery-grey beneath or in some variants woolly or glabrescent save for hairs on the nerves; stipules triangular. Inflorescences pendulous, usually with numerous flowers; greyish or ferruginous tomentose; several flowers per node; standard greenish-white or yellowish, ovate to elliptic; wings and keel greenish-cream, sometimes with tinge of purple along the edges. Pods 2-5-seeded, 14-20 cm long, 3.5-4 cm wide, 1.8 cm thick, densely covered with deciduous orange-brown or orange-red bristly very irritant hairs; seeds purple or pale brown with dense dark brown mottling, irregularly elliptic-oblong, much compressed.
Var. pesa (De Wild.) Verdc.: leaflets densely grey hairy beneath. Corolla ± 5 cm long. Var. poggei: leaflets densely silvery-grey hairy beneath. Corolla 6-9 cm long.

Habitat

Var. pesa: bushland, riverine forest and swamp-forest. Var. poggei: coarse grassland, riverine forest and swamp-forest.

Altitude range

Var. pesa: 360-1530 m. Var. poggei: 1050-1500 m.

Distribution

Var. pesa: Kenya; also United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Var. poggei: Kenya; also Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia and Angola.

Use

Not recorded but probably of low palatability.

Edited by: F. Guiso Gallisai
Information taken from: Ibrahim, K. M. 1989. An illustrated manual of Kenya legumes. Kitale, Kenya, FAO-UNDP. 656 pp.