Flora of North America species comparison

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Caesalpinia

nicker
Habit Trees or shrubs, armed, eglandular; bark and branches with prickles.
Stems

ascending, glabrous.
Leaves

alternate, even-bipinnate;

stipules present;

petiolate;

pinnae 4–10 pairs;

stipels present, setose;

leaflets 3–15, thin to subcoriaceous, blade margins entire, surfaces glabrous.
Inflorescences

10–30-flowered, terminal or axillary, racemes, often branched;

bracts present, caducous.
Pedicels

present.
Flowers

caesalpinioid, monomorphic;

calyx persistent, obconic, lobes 5, abaxialmost sepal covering others in bud;

corolla yellow to orange or red;

stamens 10, distinct, 2–2.5 times as long as corolla;

anthers dorsifixed.
Fruits

legumes, stipitate, compressed, oblong-elliptic, explosively dehiscent, valves twisting, tip acuminate.
Seeds

[2–]8–10[–12], flat, ovate to elliptic, 6–7.3 mm wide.
x

= 12.

Caesalpinia
Distribution
map from USDA
Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; Asia; Africa; Indian Ocean Islands (Madagascar); Australia [Introduced in North America; introduced also elsewhere in tropical areas]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species ca. 9 (1 in the flora).

E. Gagnon et al. (2016) provided compelling evidence for subdivision of Caesalpinia in the broad sense into segregate genera, of which Caesalpinia (in a narrowed circumscription), Denisophytum, Erythrostemon, Guilandina, and Tara occur in the flora area.

Etymology: For Andrea Caesalpino, 1519–1603, Italian naturalist and physician to Pope Clement VIII

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Caesalpinioideae
Subordinate taxa
C. pulcherrima
Synonyms Brasilettia
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 380. (1753) — (as Caesalpina): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 178. (1754) — (as Caesalpina)
Source FNA vol. 11. Treatment author: Solange Sotuyo.
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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