链荚木 lian jia mu

Diphaca cochinchinensis Loureiro, Fl. Cochinch. 2: 454. 1790; Hedysarum sennoides Willdenow; Ormocarpum sen­noides (Willdenow) Candolle.

Shrubs, evergreen, 2-3 m tall. Stems and branchlets fis­sured at maturity, corky. Stipules lanceolate, 2-3 mm. Leaves alternate, imparipinnate, 9-17-foliolate; petiole 1.5-2.5 cm; ra­chis viscid, lustrous pitch-black when dry; leaflet blades ellip­tic, obovate, or oblong, 1.2-2.5 × 0.5-1 cm, papery, stained pur­ple when dry, venation reticulate, midvein thick and raised, secondary veins 3 or 4 on each side, base rounded, apex obtuse and mucronate. Racemes axillary, ca. 3 cm, 2-6-flowered; peduncle 7-8 mm, viscid, lustrous and sticky when dry; bracts triangular, small, spreading. Flowers 1.5-2 cm. Pedicel ca. 2 cm; bracteoles lanceolate, ca. 1 mm, persistent. Hypanthium 5-6 mm. Calyx ca. 1 cm, membranous, abaxial lobes ca. 5 mm. Corolla yellow or white. Ovary linear to slightly curved, sparsely pubescent; style filiform, glabrous; stigma terminal. Legume a loment, oblong, slightly falcate, 10-12 cm × 5-6 mm, inflated, shortly stipitate, with longitudinal slightly raised parallel veins, divided into 4 or 5 articles. Seeds brown, oblong, ca. 6 × 2.5 mm, compressed; hilum eccentric. Fl. Jun-Sep, fr. Sep-Oct. 2n = 24.

Cultivated and naturalized in Guangdong, Hainan, and Taiwan [native and/or naturalized in India, Japan, Malaysia, Pacific islands, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam; introduced and often naturalized in many tropical areas].