大棋子豆 da qi zi dou

Albizia eberhardtii (I. C. Nielsen) Y. H. Huang; Cylindro­kelupha eberhardtii (I. C. Nielsen) T. L. Wu; C. macrophylla T. L. Wu.

Trees, to 10 m tall. Branchlets strong, 1-1.5 cm in diam., obviously angulate. Leaves large; leaf rachis to 34 cm, ob­viously angulate; glands urceolate, raised; pinnae 2 pairs; rachis ca. 35 cm; petiolules ca. 6 mm; leaflets 3 pairs, opposite, ob­long, 8-30 × 5-12 cm, both surfaces glabrous, midvein central, lateral veins 6-11 pairs, base attenuate, apex acuminate. Heads 4- or 5-flowered, arranged in panicles ca. 20 cm, fasciculate on old branches. Flowers sessile. Calyx cup-shaped, ca. 3 mm; lobes deltoid. Corolla funnel-shaped, 1.1-1.2 cm, sericeous; lobes narrowly ovate, 3-3.5 mm, apex acute. Staminal tube ca. as long as corolla tube. Ovary glabrous, ca. 2.5 mm; stipe ca. 4 mm. Legume cylindric, ca. 20 × 5 cm, dehiscent along both sutures; valves brown, ca. 5 mm thick, subwoody, squarrose-scaly. Seeds large, bullet-form on both ends, ca. 6 cm high, ca. 4 cm in diam., middle ones shortly cylindric, ca. 4 cm high. Fr. Jan.

Valleys, along streams in forests; ca. 1000 m. Guangxi [N Viet­nam].

The seeds are rich in starch.