Senegalia megaladena

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Rosids
Cladus: Eurosids I
Ordo: Fabales

Familia: Fabaceae
Subfamilia: Caesalpinioideae
Tribus: Acacieae
Genus: Senegalia
Species: Senegalia megaladena
Varietates: S. m. var. indochinensis
Source(s) of checklist:

Govaerts, R. et al. 2020. Senegalia megaladena in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2020 Nov 16. Reference page.

Name

Senegalia megaladena (Desv.) Maslin, Seigler & Ebinger Blumea 58: 41 (2013)
Synonymy

Acacia megaladena Desv. J. Bot. Agric. 3: 69 (1814)

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Asia-Temperate
China
China South-Central, Hainan
Asia-Tropical
Indian Subcontinent
Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal
Indo-China
Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam
Malesia
Jawa, Malaya

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Links

Hassler, M. 2020. Senegalia megaladena. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2020. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published online. Accessed: 2020 Nov. 16. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2020. Senegalia megaladena. Published online. Accessed: November 16 2020.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2020. Senegalia megaladena in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2020 November 16. Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2020. Senegalia megaladena. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 16 November 2020.

Senegalia megaladena is a spiny climber, shrub or tree, native to Jawa, and from mainland Southeast Asia to China and India. It is eaten as a vegetable and used as a fish poison. It is named after its distinctive large gland on the petioles.

Description

The species grows as a robust climber (stems can measure up to 50mm d.b.h.) or as a straggly shrub or tree (from 4 to 10m tall), and is perennial.[1][4] The leaves are bipinnate. Distinguishing features for the species are: rather prominently raised petiole gland whose position is variable, commonly near middle of petiole, 1-5-5mm in length, with a length to width ration of 0.7 to 2.5, and orange to orange-brown in colour when fresh.[4]

The autonym megaladena variety is distinguished by having 4 to 8mm long leaflets, usually 0.8 to 1.5mm in width, with visible lateral veins (though sometimes obscure, sometimes quite evident). It flowers in Yunnan from July to September, fruits from December (rarely) to February.

The indochinensis variety has smaller leaflets, ranging from 2mm, usually 3 to 4mm , and up to 5mm long, some 0.4 to 0.6mm wide, with the lateral veins usually not visible or sometimes extremely faint. Flowering occurs in Hainan from July to September, while mature fruit have been collected in April.
Distribution

The species is found in Jawa and from Mainland Southeast Asia to Zhōngguó/China and India.[1] Countries and regions where the plant grows as a native include: Indonesia (Jawa); Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia); Thailand; Cambodia; Vietnam; Zhōngguó/China (Hainan, Yunnan); Laos; Myanmar; India (including Andaman Islands, Assam); Bangladesh; East Himalaya; and Nepal.

The variety indochinensis grows as a native in an area from Peninsular Malaysia to Vietnam and Hainan in Zhōngguó/China. [2] Countries and regions that it occurs in as a native are: Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia); Thailand; Cambodia; Laos; Vietnam; and Zhōngguó/China (Hainan). It has been introduced to Jawa in Indonesia.
Habitat and ecology

Growing as a climber or as a spiny shrub in Southeast Asia, The indochinensis variety occurs in secondary forests, in clearings or alongside roads.[5] It grows in open forests in Zhōngguó/China at between 100 and 400m altitude.[4]

In Zhōngguó/China the megaladena variety grows in forests that range from open to dense, or in thickets.[4] It is associated with sandstone mountains, and is recorded from 230 to 1400m in altitude. Maslin et al. comment that "[i]n Jinping County where we observed living plants they were quite common in the general area but occurred singularly or in groups of a few individuals."
Vernacular names

In Cambodia the species is known as sâ-âm (Khmer language).[5] The plant is known as klae kwo amongst Karen people of Chiang Mai Province, northern Thailand.[6] In China the species is referred to as 钝叶金合欢, dùn yè jīn hé huān.[4] Another name that has been used is the English language obtuse-leaflet senegalia.
Uses

In Cambodia the leaves are eaten raw or cooked as a vegetable, while the roots and bark are used to poison fish.[5] The plant is used to a moderate extent by Karen people in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand.[6] The bark and roots provide an insecticide smoke, and are pounded to be used as a fish poison. The leaves are cooked as a vegetable. The leaves and stem are also used to treat itching, either pounded and applied as a liniment or burnt so as to smoke.
History

The species was described in 2013 by the team of Bruce Maslin (born 1946), David Stanley Seigler (born 1940), and John Edwin Ebinger (born 1933).[7] Maslin is an Australian botanist specialising in Acacia sensu lato. They published their article New combinations in Senegalia and Vachellia (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae) for Southeast Asia and China in the journal Blumea.[8] The indochinensis variety was described in the same publication.

The French botanist, Nicaise Auguste Desvaux (1784-1856) described the taxa Acacia megaladena in 1814 in the Journal de Botanique, Appliquée à l'Agriculture, à la Pharmacie, à la Médecine et aux Arts (Paris).[9] That remained the species name until Acacia was demonstrated to be polyphyletic and the genus Senegalia was accepted.

The species epithet comes from the Ancient Greek megalos (large) and adenos (gland), alluding to the relatively large petiole gland.[4]
Further reading[1]

Kumar & Sane, 2003, Legumes of South Asia: a checklist
Lock & Ford, 2004, Legumes of Malesia: a check-list
Lock & Heald, 1994, Legumes of Indo-China: a check-list
Wu, & Raven, eds., 2010, Flora of China 10

References

"Senegalia megaladena (Desv.) Maslin, Seigler & Ebinger". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
"Senegalia megaladena var. indochinensis (I.C.Nielsen) Maslin, Seigler & Ebinger". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
"Senegalia megaladena var. megaladena". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
Maslin, Bruce R.; Ho, Boon Chuan; Sun, Hang; Bai, Lin (2019). "Revision of Senegalia in China, and notes on introduced species of Acacia, Acaciella, Senegalia and Vachellia (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae)". Plant Diversity. 41 (6, December): 353–480. doi:10.1016/j.pld.2019.09.001. PMC 6923495. PMID 31891020.
Pauline Dy Phon (2000). Plants Utilised In Cambodia/Plantes utilisees au Cambodge. Phnom Penh: Imprimerie Olympic. p. 406.
Sutjaritjai, Natcha; Wangpakapattanawong, Prasit; Balslev, Henrik; Inta, Angkhana (2019). "Traditional Uses of Leguminosae among the Karen in Thailand". Plants. 8 (12): 600. doi:10.3390/plants8120600. PMC 6963713. PMID 31847100. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
"Senegalia megaladena (Desv.) Maslin, Seigler & Ebinger, Blumea 58(1): 41 (2013)". International Plant Name Index (IPNI). The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
Maslin, B.R.; Seigler, D.S.; Ebinger, J. (2013). "New combinations in Senegalia and Vachellia (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae) for Southeast Asia and China". Blumea. 58: 39–44. doi:10.3767/000651913X669914. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
"Acacia megaladena Desv., J. Bot. Agric. 3: 69 (1814)". International Plant Name Index (IPNI). The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 1 March 2021.