Parkinsonia scioana (Chiov.) Brenan

First published in Kew Bull. 17: 209 (1963)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is NE. Tropical Africa to Kenya. It is a shrub or tree and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

M. Thulin et al. Flora of Somalia, Vol. 1-4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Morphology General Habit
Shrub or small tree 0.6–5 m high, branching from near base, with straight or hooked stipular spines paired at the nodes
Morphology Leaves
Leaves with 2–8 pairs of rather short pinnae; leaflets 3–8 pairs per pinna, elliptic or oblong-elliptic, 2–7 x 1.25–3.5 mm, puberulous
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Racemes short, but up to 25-flowered, pubescent
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Sepals 4–5 mm long
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Petals yellow; upper one rhombic, 7–9 x 4–4.5 mm, scarcely clawed, the others lanceolate, 5–7 x 1.5–2 mm
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Pods mostly narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate, 4.5–9.5 x 1–2.5 cm, beaked, attenuate-stipitate, 1–4-seeded; valves thin, stiffly papery, closely and longitudinally or obliquely veined; upper suture slightly flanged
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds somewhat compressed, ellipsoid-oblong to ovoid-ellipsoid, 7–9 x 4–6 mm, brown or mottled.
Distribution
N1, 3; C2; S2, 3; Ethiopia, N Kenya
Ecology
Altitude range 40–1100 m.
Vernacular
Hria-gorleh, lebi-yer, lumba (Somali-N); bilcil, kirkre lepiad, labicad, qurri, reer soma gale, shamaxeeye (Somali-CS).
[FSOM]

International Legume Database and Information Service

Conservation
Not Threatened
Ecology
Africa: Somalia-Masai bushland and thicket
Morphology General Habit
Perennial, Not climbing, Shrub/Tree
[ILDIS]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Leguminosae, J. B. Gillett, R. M. Polhill & B. Verdcourt. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1971

Morphology General Habit
Shrub or small tree 0.6–5 m. high, branching from or near base.
Morphology Branches
Young branchlets shortly pubescent, going grey or brown.
Morphology General Spines
Stipular spines paired at nodes, 2–5 mm. long, straight or hooked.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves up to 8 cm. long; pinnae 2–8 pairs, rather short; leaflets 3–6 pairs, mostly elliptic, 2–7 mm. long, 1.25–3.5 mm. wide, mostly rounded at apex, puberulous.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Racemes 1–4(–10, fide Chiovenda) cm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Sepals 4–5 mm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Petals yellow, upper one rhombic, 8 mm. long, 4.5 mm. wide, not or scarcely clawed; the other petals lanceolate, 6–6.5 mm. long, 1.5–2 mm. wide, tapering towards apex, ± erose upwards.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Pods narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate, rarely linear-oblong, 4.5–9.5 cm. long, 1.1–2.5 cm. wide, 1–4-seeded, acute or sometimes rounded and apiculate at apex, attenuate-stipitate at base; valves thin, stiffly papery, closely and longitudinally or obliquely veined; upper suture ± thickened, and flattened transversely to the flat plane of the pod or somewhat channelled.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds somewhat compressed, obovoid-ellipsoid, 6–7 mm. long, 5–6 mm. wide, subtruncate at apex, mottled with olive and dark brown, smooth but not glossy.
Figures
Fig. 8.
Habitat
Dry scrub with trees; 300–760 m.
Distribution
K1
[FTEA]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
  • Flora of Somalia

    • Flora of Somalia
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
  • International Legume Database and Information Service

    • International Legume Database and Information Service (ILDIS) V10.39 Nov 2011
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images