Chamaecrista glandulosa var. swartzii (Wikström) H.S.Irwin & Barneby

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Caesalpiniaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Chamaecrista glandulosa var. swartzii (Wikström) H.S.Irwin & Barneby

  • Description

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    Species Description - Erect subshrub to 1 m tall; stems solitary, branching at upper end. Leaves 2-6 cm long; leaflets 12-17 pairs, 6-12 x 1.5-2.5 mm, oblong to spatulate, chartaceous, glabrous or with a few scattered hairs on lower surface, the apex rounded with a minute mucro, the base unequal, rounded-cuneate, the margins entire; petioles with a stipitate gland at middle; rachis puberulent, without glands; stipules subulate 2-7 mm long. Flowers solitary or congested, to 3 cm wide; bracts awl-shaped, minute, persistent; pedicels 7-28 mm long. Calyx of linear-lanceolate sepals, 8-14 mm long; petals yellow, unequal, the lowest petal twice as large as the others, 1-1.3 cm long; stamens 10, unequal; ovary sessile, flattened, pubescent. Legume dark brown, 30-45 x 4-5 mm , linearoblong, flattened, puberulent, with slightly wavy margins, beaked at apex. Seeds few, 2-3 mm long, flattened, rectangular, brown.

    Distribution and Ecology - A common weed of open areas. Annaberg Ruins (A1926), Bordeaux (A3172), Maria Bluff (A598). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles.