Dichrostachys cinerea

Dichrostachys cinerea
	Dichrostachys cinerea
Systematics
Order :	Fabales (Fabales)
Family :	Legumes (Fabaceae)
Subfamily :	Mimosa family (Mimosoideae)
Tribe :	Mimoseae
Genre :	Dichrostachys
Type :	Dichrostachys cinerea
Scientific name
	Dichrostachys cinerea
	( L. ) Wight & Arn.

Illustration of Dichrostachys cinerea

Foliage leaves

inflorescence

Unripe legumes

Legumes and seeds

The color kitten bush ( Dichrostachys cinerea ) is a species of the genus Dichrostachys within the legume family (Fabaceae) from the subfamily of the mimosa family. Some English-language trivial names such as "Bell-flowered Mimosa", "Sickle bush", "Chinese lantern tree" and "Kalahari Christmas tree" are used; The common German name "Kalahari Christmas tree" is rarely used.

description

Vegetative characteristics

Dichrostachys cinerea grows as a fast-growing, thorny and deciduous shrub or small tree and reaches heights of 1.5 to 6, rarely up to 12 meters. The branches have individual thorns 7–8 centimeters long. The gray-brown to gray, thick bark is furrowed.

The stalked and alternate leaves are bipinnate and up to 3–8 inches long. The petiole is up to 5–6 millimeters long. There are many (up to 19 pairs) pinnate with many (up to 41 pairs) very small leaflets . The rachis, the leaflets and the petiole are more or less hairy, on the rachis glands can occur. The entire-edged leaflets are only 1.5–12 millimeters long. There are small stipules present.

Generative characteristics

The conspicuous, two-colored and pendulous, axillary, small- eared inflorescences get their characteristic color from the pink, purple to white staminodes without anthers of the sterile flowers or the hermaphrodite flowers in the lower part with the mostly yellow stamens . The small, fragrant and sessile flowers are hermaphroditic and five-fold with a double flower envelope . The petals are greenish-white-pink or yellowish. There are 10 slightly protruding stamens, sometimes with a falling gland at the anthers, and a top permanent, weichaariger ovary with a long stylus with capitate, flat scar present.

The dark brown, in several, balled-up, mostly twisted, twisted and mostly non-opening, hard-leather and more or less finely haired legumes have a length of 4 to 9 centimeters and a diameter of 0.6 to 1.5 centimeters. The 4–6 brown to blackish, smooth, somewhat shiny and flat seeds with pleurogram are about 4–5 millimeters long.

Occurrence

It thrives in the sandy soils of the West African coastal areas and the savannah in tropical and southern Africa as far as India and Southeast Asia . As an invasive plant , for example in Cuba (called “Marabú” there), Dichrostachys cinerea is considered to be difficult to control “ untreated willow ” and is widespread.

Taxonomy

It was first published under the name ( Basionym ) Mimosa cinerea in 1753 by Carl von Linné . The new combination to Dichrostachys cinerea was published in 1834 by Robert Wight and George Arnott Walker Arnott .

The generic name Dichrostachys ( Greek ) means "two-colored ear". The specific epithet cinerea is derived from the Latin word cineres for "ash gray".

Further synonyms for Dichrostachys cinerea (L.) Wight & Arn. of many are: Cailliea glomerata (Forssk.) JFMacbr. , Dichrostachys glomerata (Forssk.) Chiov. , Desmanthus leptostachys DC. and Dichrostachys nutans (Pers.) Benth. or Mimosa glomerata Forssk.

Different subspecies and varieties are distinguished.

use

The high-density wood of the color kitten bush is used as fuel and can be processed into high-quality, slow-burning charcoal .

literature

M. Arbonnier: Arbres, arbustes et lianes des zones sixes d'Afrique de l'Ouest. CIRAD, Montpellier, 2000, ISBN 2-87614-431-X (French).
Michael Jones: Flowering Plants of the Gambia. CRC Press, 1994, ISBN 90-5410-197-0 (English).
Flora Malesiana. Ser. I, Vol. 11 (1), 1992, p. 174 ff, online at biodiversitylibrary.org.

Web links

Commons : Dichrostachys cinerea - collection of images, videos and audio files

Dichrostachys cinerea . In: U. Brunken, M. Schmidt, S. Dressler, T. Janssen, A. Thiombiano, G. Zizka: West African plants - A Photo Guide. Senckenberg Research Institute, Frankfurt am Main 2008.
Dichrostachys cinerea on treesa.org.
Dichrostachys cinerea at Pitchandikulam Forest Virtual Herbarium.
Description in the Flora of Zimbabwe (English).
Dichrostachys cinerea at Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk, PIER.
Dichrostachys cinerea at Global Invasive Species Database.
Trees at rest areas and highways In: Allgemeine Zeitung. dated December 2, 2010.

Individual evidence

↑ Dichrostachys cinerea at Useful Tropical Plants.
^ The Plant List .
↑ Dichrostachys cinerea in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
↑ Dichrostachys cinerea (sickle bush) from CABI, Invasive Species Compendium, accessed on February 10, 2015 (English).

[1] Dichrostachys cinerea at Useful Tropical Plants.

[2] The Plant List .

[GRIN-3] Dichrostachys cinerea in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved May 14, 2015.

[InvasiveSpeciesCompendium-4] Dichrostachys cinerea (sickle bush) from CABI, Invasive Species Compendium, accessed on February 10, 2015 (English).