Volume 4 > Part 1 > Year 1984 > Page 93 > Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae > Amherstia

Amherstia nobilis Wall.wfo-0000184535

Pl. Asiat. Rar. 1: t. 1–2. 1830; Kurz, Fl. Burm. 1: 411. 1877; Baker in Hook.f., F]. Br. Ind. 2: 272. 1878; Craib in Fl. Siam. En. 1: 523. 1928; Kerr, J. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl. 8: 200. 1931.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Evergreen tree up to 15 m high; young shoots pendulous, finely puberulous. Leaves paripinnate; rachis 20–40 cm long including short, stout petiole. Stipules foliaceous, narrow lanceolate, caduceus, 2–3 cm long. Leaflets 6–8 pairs; petiolules thick, 4–7 mm; lamina oblong to ovate-oblong, with rounded base and long acuminate apex, glabrous, 5–15 by 3–4.5 cm, increasing in size upwards. Racemes red, terminal, lax, pendulous, 50–80 cm. Bracts early caduceus; bracteoles red, persistent, broadly lanceolate, acuminate, 4–9 by 2–3 cm. Pedicels red, finely pubescent, up to 6 cm. Receptacle red, as long as sepals. Sepals 4, petaloid, subequal, linear oblong, blunt, 3–5 by 0.5–2 cm. Petals 5, unequal; the lower 2 minute, setaceous, 2 mm long; lateral ones spathulate, red with rounded yellow apex; upper one fan shaped with wavy upper margin, red–spotted with a red V surrounded by a yellow, quadrangular patch near apex, 4.5 cm broad at apex; Stamens 10; 9 connate into a 3 cm long, pink sheet; 5 of these with up to 4cm of free filament, anthers 8 mm long; 4 alternate stamens with 0.2–0.3 cm of free filament and small anthers; upper stamen free, 2.5 cm long with small anther; anthers opening by a slit. Ovary with a stipe 0.7 cm long, adnate to the receptacle; style red, filiform, 4 cm long; stigma terminal, capitellate; ovules 3–6. Pods long-stalked, dehiscent, oblong, falcate, flat, glabrous, thickened towards the upper suture, 15–20 by 3–4 cm. Seeds 4–6, transversely ovate, orbicular, compressed.

Thailand : Cultivated; Kerr l.c. notes that it is said to be wild in Northern Thailand at Mae Hong Son, but no wild collections have ever been made.

Distribution : Burma (Tenasserim – type).

Ecology : Dry evergreen forests. Flowering: January–February.

Vernacular : Sok raya (โศกระย้า)(Central).