孪叶豆 luan ye dou

Trees, evergreen, 5-10 m tall. Branchlets grayish green, with numerous brown, small lenticels and adpressed puberulent. Leaves alternate; petiolules obscure; leaflets ovate or ovate-oblong, slightly incurved, 5-10 × 2.5-4 cm, abaxially adpressed shortly pubescent on veins, adaxially glabrous or sparsely puberulent, base obliquely rounded, asymmetric, apex acute. Inflorescences corymbose panicles. Flowers large, 2.5-3 cm; pedicels articulate, adpressed densely puberulent. Calyx tube 1.3-1.5 cm, expanded and campanulate in upper part; lobes broadly ovate or suborbicular, ca. as long as calyx tube, outside densely adpressed puberulent, inside densely silky at middle part. Petals 5, ovate or narrowly ovate, subequal in size, ca. as long as calyx lobes, clawed or subsessile. Stamens exserted; filaments 2.5-3 cm. Ovary compressed, glabrous; style elon­gated, curved in upper part; stigma capitate. Legume reddish brown, oblong or obovoid-oblong, 5-10.5 × 2.5-5 cm, woody, rough and not tuberculate; stipe short, ca. 5 mm. Fl. Aug-Oct, fr. next May-Jun.

Cultivated. Guangdong, Taiwan [native to Central America and Mexico].

The wood is hard and is used for shipbuilding and making furni­ture. It also yields a gum-resin (copal). The pulp is edible.