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(Last Modified On 11/16/2012)
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(Last Modified On 11/16/2012)
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Genus
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LEUCAENA Benth.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Hook. Jour. Bot. 4:416. 1842.
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Synonym
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Ryncholeucaena Britt. & Rose, in N. Am. Fl. 23:130. 1928. Caudoleucaena Britt. & Rose, loc. cit. 1928.
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Description
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Unarmed shrubs or trees, glabrous or pubescent. Leaves bipinnate, the pinnae few or several pairs opposite on the rachis, the leaflets few and large or many and small; petiole evident, usually glandular; rachis pronounced, glandular or egland- ular; pinnular rachis often gland-bearing; leaflets linear to ovate, pubescent or glabrous, usually dull. Inflorescence of axillary or racemose pedunculate heads; peduncles usually stout, solitary or fasciculate, ebracteate except at the base of the head; head globular, dense, the floral bractlets evident, usually peltate. Flowers valvate, white; calyx subcampanulate, markedly sympetalous but 5-toothed, usually pubescent apically; corolla off 5 narrow, essentially free petals; stamens 10, free, exserted, the anthers relatively large, pubescent or glabrous; ovary stipitate, gla- brous or pubescent, inequilateral (bilaterally symmetrical), multiovulate; style thicker than the filaments, gradually expanded into an obliquely truncate stigma. Legume linear to oblong, straight, flat, thin, dehiscent from both margins, the seeds usually nearly transverse.
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Habit
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shrubs trees
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Distribution
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Chiefly New World tropics and subtropics; a few species described from the Far East, and some introduced into various parts of the world.
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Note
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This comparatively small genus, a well recognized segregate of Acacia, super- ficially resembles Albizzia. The flowers, however are very different from those of Albizzia, and afford the diagnostic criteria for the genus. Only two species are known from Panama.
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Key
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a. Leaflets small, sublinear, 8-15 mm. long, about 15 pairs per pinna - 1. L. GLAUCA aa. Leaflets larger, nearly ovate, 15-40 mm. long, about 4 pairs per pinna_ 2. L. MULTICAPITULA
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