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Sesbania sesban
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Family:
FABACEAE/LEGUMINOSAE (Subfam.: Papilionoideae)
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Citation: Sesbania sesban (L.) Merr., Philipp. J. Sci. 7: 235. 1912; Manilal & Sivar., Fl. Calicut 87. 1982; Mohanan, Fl. Quilon Dist. 155. 1984; Babu, Fl. Malappuram Dist. 200. 1990; Sanjappa, Legumes Ind. 243. 1992.
Aeschynomene sesban L., Sp. Pl. 714. 1753.
Sesbania aegyptiaca Poir. in Lam., Encycl. 7: 128. 1806; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 2: 114. 1876; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 323(228). 1918.
Sesban aegyptiacum Baker in Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 2: 114. 1876.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Kedangu, Nellithali, Shempa
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Common sesban, Egyptian rattle pod
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Description:
A quick-growing, short-lived shrub or small tree upto 6 m tall with soft wood; young shoots striate, green, puberulent. Leaves 7.5-15 cm long including rachis, paripinnate; stipules 3-7 mm long, linear, acute, caducous; leaflets 7-28 pairs, opposite, 0.6-2.5 cm long and 0.3-0.6 cm wide, linear-oblong, glabrous, margins entire, apex obtuse and often faintly apiculate, puberulous when young, petiolules minute. Flowers 1.2-1.5 cm long, borne in 3-20 flowered, lax, axillary racemes to 14 cm long; calyx 5 mm long, campanulate, 5-nerved, teeth deltoid, shorter than the tube; corolla yellow, standard orbicualr with 2 keel-like appendages, sometimes spotted red or purple on the back, wings falcate-oblong with a minute auricle at the top of the claw, keel straight, obtuse, its petals with a small recurved auricle above the claw. Fruits(pods) 12-23 cm long and 2.5-3.8 mm in diam, cylindrical, pendulous, twisted, slightly torulose, sharply beaked, septate between the seeds, 20-30-seeded.
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Habit:
Shrub
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Flowering & Fruiting:
September-December
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District(s):
Kollam, Malappuram, Kozhikkode
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Marshy fields, mangroves and wastelands
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Distribution:
Native of Tropical Africa and Asia; now cultivated and naturalised in the tropics
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Aquatic:
Yes
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Epiphyte(s):
No
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Saprophyte:
No
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Stem parasite:
No
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Root parasite:
No
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Flower colour(s):
Yellow
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Weed:
No
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Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
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Exotic:
Yes
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Garden:
No
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Edible:
No
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Vegetable:
No
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Endemic to:
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IUCN status:
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Altitude:
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Localities:
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