Flora of North America species comparison

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Canavalia

jackbean
Habit Herbs or vines, annual or perennial, woody or herbaceous, unarmed.
Stems

twining, trailing, prostrate, or erect, glabrous, glabrate, strigulose, or glabrescent.
Leaves

alternate, odd-pinnate;

stipules present, caducous, deltate and small or obsolete;

petiolate;

stipels deciduous;

leaflets 3, blade margins entire, surfaces strigose, glabrate, or glabrous.
Inflorescences

8–50-flowered, axillary, panicles;

bracts present, caducous;

axis retrorsely pubescent basally, antrorsely pubescent apically;

bracteoles present, calycine.
Flowers

papilionaceous;

calyx campanulate, 2-lipped, lobes 5, abaxial lip with 3 short lobes, adaxial lip with 2 massive connate lobes;

corolla lavender, pink-purple, purple and white (bicolored), white, blue-violet, or reddish purple [pink-white], 20–35 mm, glabrous;

stamens 10, monadelphous;

anthers basifixed, dehiscing apically, relatively small.
Fruits

legumes, stipitate, straight or ± falcate, ± compressed, sometimes turgid, oblong or narrowly oblong [linear], 6–40 cm, well exceeding calyx, ventral margin 3–5-ribbed, adaxial (upper) margins 3-costate, dehiscent, strigose to glabrate.
Seeds

(1–)4–15, oblong to elliptic in silhouette;

hilum lateral.
x

= 11.

Canavalia
Distribution
from USDA
c United States; Mexico; Central America; South America; s United States; West Indies; Asia; Africa; Atlantic Islands; Pacific Islands; Australia
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species ca. 60 (4 in the flora).

Some Canavalia species are grown for cover crops, green manures, forage, and human consumption (G. P. Lewis et al. 2005). Coastal species produce drift-seeds.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Leaflet blades suborbiculate, elliptic, or oblong, apices emarginate or obtuse; legumes turgid to moderately compressed; seeds marbled, red to brown; hilum to 1/2 length of seed; coastal habitats.
C. rosea
1. Leaflet blades ovate to ovate-elliptic, apices obtuse, acute, subacute, subacuminate, or acuminate; legumes slightly compressed; seeds usually not marbled (sometimes darkly so in C. brasiliensis), olive, brown, red, red-brown, white, or off-white; hilum shorter to longer than 1/2 length of seed; disturbed areas.
→ 2
2. Leaflet apices acuminate; calyces with central lobe of abaxial lip equaling obtuse lateral lobes; seeds usually red to red-brown, rarely white.
C. gladiata
2. Leaflet apices obtuse, subacute, or emarginate; calyces with central lobe of abaxial lip exceeding ± acute lateral lobes; seeds white, off-white, olive, brown, or red.
→ 3
3. Stems twining or prostrate; petiolule hairs 0.5–0.9 mm; legumes 6–20 × 2–3 cm; seeds olive, brown, or red.
C. brasiliensis
3. Stems twining or erect; petiolule hairs 0.3 mm; legumes 15–35 × 3–3.5 cm; seeds white or off-white.
C. ensiformis
Source FNA vol. 11. Author: Alexander Krings.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae
Subordinate taxa
C. brasiliensis, C. ensiformis, C. gladiata, C. rosea
Synonyms Wenderothia
Name authority Adanson: Fam. Pl. 2: 325, 531. (1763) — (as Canavali), name and orthography conserved
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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