Bolusanthus speciosus (Bolus) Harms

Tree wisteria (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Fabales > Fabaceae > Bolusanthus

Characteristics

A graceful tree with drooping foliage, 4-7 m in height, often multi-stemmed; occurring at low to medium altitudes in wooded grassland in a variety of soils. Bark: brown to blackish brown, rough and deeply fissured longitudinally. Leaves: imparipinnate, alternate; with 3-7 pairs of leaflets plus the terminal one; leaflets lanceolate, up to 7 x 1 cm, yellowish green when young, becoming bright shining green or grey-green with minute silvery hairs above, dull green below, midrib and lateral veins pale yellowish and conspicuous; apex narrowly tapering; base broadly tapering to rounded, markedly asymmetric; margin entire or slightly and irregularly scalloped; petiolules and petiole distinct. Flowers: very beautiful, blue to mauve, pea-shaped, in loose terminal sprays up to 30 cm long; calyx bell-shaped with 5 lobes; petals 5, unequal; stamens free; ovary with 4 or 5 ovules, silky, almost without a stalk (Aug.-Nov., sometimes extending into Dec. or Jan.). Fruit: a flat, narrow pod, about 7-10 x 1 cm, light brown or straw-coloured but sometimes grey or even blackish with age, tardily dehiscent (Feb./Mar. or later).
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Leaves up to 18(22) cm long, (2)3–6(7)-jugate; lateral leaflets up to 7(9) × 2.3(3.5) cm, falcate-lanceolate, asymmetrical at the base, acute at the apex; terminal leaflet narrowly elliptic, symmetrical; all leaflets glabrescent above, usually persistently appressed-pubescent beneath.
Slow-growing tree to 12 m.. With falcate-lanceolate leaflets in 3–7 pairs.. Racemes of blue to purplish (rarely white) flowers; standard 1.3–1.8 cm. long.. Pod narrowly oblong, flattened, few-seeded, not or tardily dehiscent, 6–9 cm. long, pubescent.
Tree, up to 7 m high. Leaves compound with 3-7 pairs of leaflets; leaflets lanceolate, up to 70 x 10 mm, base markedly asymmetric. Pods narrow, 70-100 x 10 mm. Flowers blue to mauve.
Racemes 10–20 cm long, 16–40-flowered; pedicels (7)10–20(22) mm long; bracteoles c.1 mm, usually not opposite, quickly falling.
Young branches and inflorescences and very young leaves ± densely appressed-pubescent and often sericeous.
Standard 13–18 × 13–18 mm, claw shallowly channelled; wing and keel petals ± as long as the standard.
Pod 6–9 × 0.7–1 cm, narrowly oblong, grey-brown, on a stipe 3–5 mm long at maturity, 3–5-seeded.
Smallish deciduous tree, up to 8(12) m tall, flowering with the young leaves.
Ovary with a gynophore up to 1 mm long.
Seeds 9–10 × 4.5–5 mm, grey-brown.
Life form perennial
Growth form tree
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination entomogamy
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 7.5
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer rhizobia
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

Savannah, in wooded grassland, at low to medium elevations, usually growing singly or in groups. It prefers open savannah woodland and very seldom occurs in thickets.
Light 7-9
Soil humidity 3-5
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-11

Usage

Uses environmental use material medicinal ornamental timber wood
Edible -
Therapeutic use Aphrodisiacs (bark)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Can be grown by seedlings. Seeds needs soaking.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment soaking
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) 17 - 27
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Leaf

Bolusanthus speciosus leaf picture by Maarten Vanhove (cc-by-sa)
Bolusanthus speciosus leaf picture by Ingrid Bolton (cc-by-sa)
Bolusanthus speciosus leaf picture by Ingrid Bolton (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Bolusanthus speciosus world distribution map, present in Botswana, India, Kenya, Northern Mariana Islands, Mozambique, Malawi, Thailand, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

Conservation status

Bolusanthus speciosus threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:481946-1
WFO ID wfo-0000212048
COL ID 68NY9
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Lonchocarpus speciosus Bolusanthus speciosus